Crossroads
by William Rayne
Summary: AU: Chloe takes a trip to the ‘real world’, our world and learns Clark's secret and destiny. “If you desire to know the truth, you also must possess the courage to accept it.” At long last, Act 4 is up. In need of a beta.
1. Intersect

TITLE: Crossroads 

AUTHOR: William Rayne  
EMAIL: knytmare@yahoo.com  
RATING: PG

SUMMARY: Chloe takes a trip to the 'real world', our world

SPOILERS: Set after "Whisper"  
PAIRING: none  
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, email me

DISCLAIMER someone else owns 'em, I'm just taking them out to play. Don't sue me, I have no money 

FEEDBACK: Desired like none other.

NOTES: Thanks to Deia for being a great beta reader and having better editing skills than I

Crossroads

**Act 1**

Chapter 1

_A concussion or maybe an overactive imagination, _she thought while lying in the hospital bed which was the last place she thought she'd be 2 hours ago or 8 hours ago if her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. _Once I can sneak the chance, I'll check my bag and laptop. I'll prove that I'm not going crazy. Though bizarre is pretty much the norm in this town._

Two hours ago she didn't think her day would be as exciting and confusing as it ended up becoming. In fact, two hours ago she went to the bank to get some money to get the new _Buffy: the Vampire Slayer_ Season Five DVD box-set so that she could indulge in a break from reality. After what happened with Clark earlier this week, she felt she deserved it. Things could've ended much worse but at that moment she didn't want to think about it. Only if she had decided to brood over it or if the ATM wasn't broke that day or if she had somehow made it to the door faster or the guard didn't make a move or a dozen other only ifs that still wouldn't change the fact that a wacko had come into the bank strapped with meteorite rock bomb and that the guard tried to be a hero.

She didn't remember exactly how it happened, not that remembering would change the fact that it did, but what she does remember is the madman's thumb coming down on that button and a green explosion. At first she thought she was dead, that is until she opened her eyes. Unless the afterlife was supposed to look like a city park, she was fairly sure she wasn't dead, doubly sure she couldn't or shouldn't be where she was and (after seeing a car with Indiana license plates) she thought, _Looks like I'm not in Kansas anymore_ and _God, did I just think that?_

Always having been the curious type, she took note of her surroundings in case she needed to make her way back and explored the place she was in, hoping to find a way home. _This is so __Bermuda__ Triangle or X-Files, definitely weird. At least I have my computer bag, _she thought as she wandered through the town. It was pure luck that she found the boy that would have a profound impact on her worldview. She hadn't wandered far when she ran into him.

Chapter 2

"Excuse me," said a voice behind her as she walked down the street. The voice belonged to an Asian guy, not hot or ugly, just a regular guy. He was clearly nervous talking to her, it wasn't until later she really understood why.

"Yeah?"

Widening his smile in a semblance that could be construed as charm, he got up some more courage and said, "I'm sure you get this a lot, but in the off chance you don't…has anyone told you that you have an uncanny resemblance to Allison Mack?"

Not exactly what she thought he was going to say, then again in retrospect, she wasn't sure exactly what she thought he'd say but it was definitely not that. She responded with a proper, "Huh? Whatsit? Who?"

Losing what confidence he had, the boy replies, "You know, the actress on Smallville…plays Chloe Sullivan."

"I'm actually more of a Buffy fan…" she trails off as the impact of the boy's last statement registers in her mind. _Smallville's not a show…it's my home. How does he know my name? What kind of bizarro world did I wake up in?_ she thinks as the boy responds to Buffy comment with a vigorous interest.

"…and I'm babbling like a fool while you stare at me like I'm the biggest loser geek in the world," she hears the boy finish as she snaps out of her thoughts, "I'll just leave you alone, sorry to have bothered you."

"Wait," she says, catching his arm. Intrigued by what she has learned and wanting to know more, she smiles at him and says, "Geeks can be kinda cute in their own way, do want to get coffee?"

Surprised, the boy replies, "Yeah, sure…"

"I never caught your name."

"Never gave it."

Silence.

"Sorry, always wanted to say that…but I really didn't give my name. Josh. And your name?"

Remembering what prompted her asking Josh to coffee, she says coyly, "Promise not to laugh or crack a smart ass comment?"

"Promise."

"Chloe."

Biting his lip to keep his initial reaction to himself, Josh responds, smiles and proffers his arm, "Nice to meet you, Chloe. Care to go get that coffee?"

Taking his arm and affecting a smile, Chloe says, "I'd like that."

Chapter 3

"How could you not know that? It's practically a part of American mythology, like Paul Bunyan and Benedict Arnold."

"Benedict Arnold is a historical figure, not a tall tale."

"Not my point, my point is that Superman is a cultural icon. Everyone knows who he is…or at least I thought until I met you," Josh states incredulously and flags down their waitress, "Alice, you got a minute?"

"Sure, what you need? A refill?"

"No, just a quick question: You know who Superman is, right?"

"I was never really into comics…"

"Ha," Chloe says emphatically.

Disregarding Chloe's reaction, Josh states, "But you do know some stuff, even the basics. Do me a favor and tell her what you know to prove my point. Please?"

Sighing, Alice says, "Alright. It's not much. Strange visitor from another planet, found by the Kents. Um, raised in Smallville. Blue spandex with the 'S' thingie. Thing I never got was how the people in Metropolis and especially Lois didn't make the connection between Clark Kent and Superman. I mean, come on, like glasses make such the difference. That's all I know, you're minute's up hon."

"Thanks," replies Josh as he leans back into his chair triumphantly.

Her thoughts were reeling from the newfound information; she strove to control her reaction to what the knowledge the waitress took for granted. She could tell by Josh's quizzical expression that her attempt and not being slack-jawed had failed. She wanted to know more but didn't want to draw suspicion to herself. _Besides, if I even tried to tell him the truth, he'd think I was insane. I'd think the same thing if someone told me they were from the world of Warrior Angel._

"You alright?"

"Yeah, sorry," she awkwardly recovers from her thoughts, "It's just that…wow. This is just so fascinating…"

Chloe was grateful for what happened next since it diverted the subject of her not knowing this 'lore'. Josh attempted to raise one eyebrow questioningly at her but succeeded in screwing up his face in such a way that the only proper reaction to it was for her to laugh. This, of course, led to Josh realizing the humor in his action and laughing in turn.

When they finally managed to catch their breathe, Chloe went back to prodding for more information in hopes of figuring out a way back to where she belonged. 

"So, I didn't hear any mention of my namesake in Alice's Superman lore…"

"I wouldn't have expected you to," seeing Chloe's perplexing look, Josh explains, "That's standard Superman canon. Smallville is a modernization of story. 'Before the legend...before the icon...there was a teenager named Clark Kent' is the promo line, I think."

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"The show is based on the eventuality that Clark becomes Superman but from all indications, it has broken traditional canon regarding Superman's teenage years. Chloe Sullivan is a new character, a 'Lois Lane' type that gets Clark into journalism so to say. In fact there's this interesting theory that some have that Chloe is Lois and I'd have to say after the last ep and the penname thing, I'd be prone to agree."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, forgot you don't watch. Uh, well in the last ep, Chloe's been fired from the episode before that from the Daily Planet since Clark developed his super-hearing and accidentally managed to hear Chloe talk with Lionel which…" noticing the absolute look of confusion he was getting, Josh summarizes, "anyways, she tries to get a story published and since it won't if her real name is used, she says to use a penname…her cousin, Lois Lane."

"And that answers my question how?"

"I think I confused myself there," Josh laughs, "Long story short is that the Smallville series has deviates from traditional Superman lore which is the comic book version. In the comics, there was never a Chloe Sullivan, Lana not Pete knew Clark's secret, etcetera. Given the way the series is going, I'm of the opinion it's a universe unto itself."

Processing what she's gathered, her journalistic nature demand hard evidence and Chloe responds, "I think I'd probably understand better if I could see the show."

"Well, if you trust me, I got the last 2 eps on tape and the Season One box-set back at my place or if you don't, if your computer there can play DVDs then I can get the box-set, up to you."

"Your place it is then."

It was Josh's turn to become a bit slack jawed. Chloe enjoyed the feeling for a bit then decided to make sure he didn't get any dumb ideas and added with a coy smile, "I trust my pepper spray."

Chapter 4

When they got to his apartment, Chloe asked if she could jack an internet connection from him. At which Josh told her that he had WiFi or she could take use the cable for his X-box. As Josh went in search of his DVD box-set, Chloe searched the internet for 'Smallville' and became engrossed on some of the sites. So much so, that Josh scared her when he snuck up to see what she was looking at and commented about some good fanfic sites he's found. She checked some out, saved a few of the "Chloe/Clark" ones that looked fairly innocent to peruse later and turned her attention to her host. Watching the 'Whisper' episode sent chills through her spine since the events depicted in the show was what happened in earlier in the week and the uncanny resemblance between the actress and herself. When they got to 'Delete', Josh made a comment that would come back to haunt her in a few days.

"What I don't get is if Clark was hypnotized to kill Chloe, why use a truck? Unless some part of him deep down wants to pull the punch and not use his powers. Or maybe it's just a writer's mistake."

After seeing the two episodes Josh had on tape, Chloe was thoroughly intrigued and asked to see some of the DVD box-set. They got through the first DVD before Chloe realized nothing in the show would help her get back home. Reaching the point of desperation, she asked Josh, "So you're a big fan of this, huh? If I told you a plotline, you think you could provide any insight on it?"

"I'm not obsessed with the show but know enough of it that I think I could give it a shot. You're obviously hooked on this, thinking of writing a fanfic?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Cool."

"Hmm, 'kay, here's the deal. If a 'Kryptonite' bomb," she paused, trying to get use to this world's term for the meteor rocks then continued, "somehow sent one of the characters to the 'real' world…this world."

"I think it would be more exciting visually, sorry, but I just see writing that fic as kinda tough."

"Let me worry about that. Anyways, they're in the real world and want to get home...how do you think they could do that?"

"Wow. Um, uh. Well let's see, there's no such thing as Kryptonite here so that can't be a catalyst on this side. Actually I'm stuck on how the bomb can break the barriers that are supposed to exist if you believe in alternate reality universes…well, supposedly schizophrenics can see other realities so if the bomber was a madman…"

"Well he did seem kinda…er, we can make him crazy, that works," reading the look on Josh's face, Chloe could tell he might be on to something and prodded him to go on.

"My only guess is that wherever they arrived would still have the dimensional 'rip' near it. And given what I know about the natural state of the universe, it'll want to heal it…but who knows how much time that'll take, it may be seconds or years. Other than that, I'd have to say the character would be stuck in our world."

Chloe's mind was racing with this new information, she hoped Josh's theory was correct and a portal existed and was still there. Glancing at the clock, she says, "Oh my god, look at the time. I gotta go."

"Uh, ok. Can I at least walk you back?"

"Um, I'm only in for the day and as fun as this is, I'd…"

"Nevermind, it figures," Josh says dejectedly.

"You're a nice guy, you'll find someone."

"Heard that before."

Taking pity, Chloe offers, "Well, if it ends up that I'm here for more than the day, I'll come by. Promise."

Smiling, Josh replies, "I'd like that."

"Um, listen, can I get a favor before I go?"

"Depends what it is."

"Can I buy your box-set from you? I won't have time to get it and I'm certain that I won't find it where I'm going."

"Uh, ok…$60."

"Deal," Chloe gratefully replies and hand him the money she originally intended for another DVD set and puts the new one in her bag, "Gotta jet. Thanks, I had an amazing time."

As he watched her dash out the door, Josh says aloud to himself, "Weird girl. Interesting fic story she came up with…"

*****************************************************

Chloe ran back to where she woke up and looked around. After a few minutes of looking about, she thought to herself, _This is ridiculous, I don't even know what I should be looking for. What is a dimensional rip suppose to look like anyways?_ Then she saw it or rather felt it and turned to see the area before her rippling. _Here goes nothing._ She touched the ripple and blacked out. Chloe woke up in a hospital bed. _Did that really happen?_ she thought to herself. She looks over to see her bag sitting on the table next to her hospital bed. She pulled a DVD box out of her bag and her world suddenly shattered. _Oh my God. It's real._

*Commercial Break*


	2. Parallel

TITLE: Crossroads 

AUTHOR: William Rayne  
EMAIL: knytmare@yahoo.com  
RATING: Unsure at time of writing

SUMMARY: Chloe takes a trip to the 'real world', our world and now has to deal with the information she has learned. Also has the theme of free will versus predetermination.

SPOILERS: Set after "Whisper" and contains some parts of "Delete"  
PAIRING: Clark/Chloe maybe?  
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, email me

DISCLAIMER someone else owns 'em, I'm just taking them out to play. Don't sue me, I have no money 

FEEDBACK: Desired like none other.

NOTES AND NEWS: Thanks to Deia for being a great beta reader and having better editing skills than I. I'm not sure how the fanfiction.net chapter thing works, so I'm writing this in a separate file to be safe. Also, fixed some of the first chapter, intersect, some. Read: found some grammar errors, no plot update. I will always post in my latest update any changes to previous chapters, most are made to avoid contradictions. I'll try to keep such updates at a minimum. And I owe Deia my soul AND my firstborn for writing a better part of this while I had writers block. The word 'hunked' is Deia's doing so let me know if I should forward complaints to her. Deia' been itching to write the 'Chloe finds out about Clark' scene since episode 1, so I let her have at it. As always, Italics denote thoughts or voice-over depending contextually. Underlines denote disgust or sarcasm depending contextually. Bolds are stressed.

Crossroads

**Act 2 - Parallel**

Chapter 1

Denial is, perhaps, the most interesting of human emotions. Denial is what brought her to this point, in so many ways. Of course, it was possible that this was the way it was meant to be. Then again, it was equally possible that this was the price to be paid for free will. Thoughts of Sartre, Kant, Free Will and the events of the last week tumbled through her head like a cacophonic maelstrom. She had gotten over the denial and wishing things could be different. Now she wanted to figure out how to make things right. She tried to recall the events in the hope that in doing so, she'll find a solution to her current dilemma. _After all, hindsight is 20/20, right?_

It started the moment she pulled the DVD box-set out of her bag and, for a while, it ended with that moment as well. _Oh my God. It's real…it can't be real. This isn't happening. This **can't** be happening. I mean it is, so it can, but it shouldn't and…arg, why can't this just be dream._

_OK, Chloe, calm down. First things first, never refer to myself in the third person **ever** again. That's not only unhealthy but tacky. So what do I know? One, those memories have to be real or I'm hallucinating this DVD set. Two, well…uh, um…k, no two. So what does this all mean?_ Glancing down at the evidence, she massaged her temple and put the box back in the bag. _Can't think with that out.__ The fact that the set exists proves one thing: parallel universes exist. _

_That doesn't mean everything about __Clark__ that it claims is true. It can't be. If it was, then that would mean that our lives are being decided for us. Not by God but by writers, ratings and a TV audience. Unless this is someone's fanfic…dammit I'M REAL. I have to quit seconded guessing this, that'll just leave me running thought circles. _

Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself and not hyperventilate from the shock of her worldview shattering, she thinks, _Clark__ is only a superhero in that DVD and those stories, not here. Well, he is a hero here, but not **super**. __Clark__ is the key. I prove he's not a strange visitor from another planet, I…what am I thinking? That line of thought is what got me sitting in this bed. Besides, I promised myself I wouldn't investigate __Clark__ again, no matter what. I know if I do, I'll lose what little friendship we have left and that little is a lot to me._

A tear streams down her cheek as she makes her decision of how to deal with the days events. Her mind catches up with her body and she falls asleep, tired.

A few days later, she had almost managed to push the whole incident to repression except the déjà vu feeling she got when she talked to Max and gave a penname. She had the same feeling as she was talking to Pete in the office but waved it off then as well. It was until it hit her, well almost hit her as in the truck that Clark was driving, that she knew she couldn't shove the issue away like she did with the DVD box-set into her underwear drawer.

As she lied to the sheriff in the hospital about what happened with the truck and Clark, she made the decision that would send her down a long, unknown road. She tried to find him after the sheriff interrogated her more on the events that night but he had left already. _So much for cheating fate._ Soldiering through the madness and not quite ready to confront him just yet, she went home. Making sure not to wake anybody up, she crept into her room, got her laptop, headphones and a pot of coffee to prepare for the long night ahead_. Okay, Chloe, enough procrastination_, she thought to herself as she steeled herself up, walked to her underwear drawer, pulled open her underwear drawer, got out the DVD set and watched.

Chapter 2

The next day, Clark walked into the loft to his parked truck and took his schoolbooks and his laptop from the passenger seat and closed the door unhappily. The front end of the truck was completely smashed. Clark turned around and drops his books onto a nearby table as he sees Chloe enter. 

"If you're looking for signs of tampering, I'll save you some time. There's nothing wrong with it. I asked the mechanic." 

"There's got to be some explanation," Clark responded as Chloe thought to herself, _Why'd__ I just say that. I watched myself say that last week. Time to change it up. Time to find out whether my life is my own._

"As to why you tried to mow me over?" she responded, "Oh there is."

"Huh?" Clark responded as she turned away and walked out of the barn, "Wait. You can't just…CHLOE!"

"I'll explain in a bit, Clark. First, let's take a ride," she said as she opened the passenger door of her car for him and gestured for him to get in.

*********************************************************

"Why we going to Crater Lake?" asks Clark, still wondering why Chloe hadn't answered him since he got in the car. She just kept driving. If he hadn't recognized some landmarks, he'd have thought she was trying to get him lost.

"Chloe? Why are we going so far out of town?" Clark rephrased his last question as he starts to get a bit nervous but not knowing why.

As she parked the car in the secluded grove most kids use to make out, he became more nervous. Soothing his nerves, he reassured himself that even if Chloe wanted to make out with him, surely she wouldn't want to do it in the middle of the day.

He followed her lead as she got out of the car and met her by the trunk as she rounded about near him.

"We're here. Are you going to tell me what's going on or we going to play Secret Agent some more?"

"It'll all be cleared up in a second, Clark," Chloe wistfully said and then pointed out to the lake in the distance as she pops open the trunk. Clark followed her motion with his eyes.

After a few seconds, he turned his head back towards Chloe and said, "I don't see…"

He never finished the sentence. A baseball bat came crashing down on his face and shattered. Worried for Chloe, he looks to see who hit him then realized that the hands holding the end of the bat belonged to her.

They stare at each other awestruck by what just happened. Chloe dropped the bat and seconds become an eternity as both of their minds process the situation. It is Clark who speaks first as Chloe's eyes speak volumes, almost saying to him, _Deny that just happened…explain that to me._

"Jesus! Chloe, what the HELL was that about?" Clark demanded as confusion sets in.

Her normally calm and rational voice trembled with her body as she responded, "Relax, Clark. Unlike you last night, I was fully aware and remember what just happened. It's not like I've gone crazy."

Clark stared at her dumbstruck as she slouched against the car bumper in an attempt to steady her trembling. As he's about to respond, Chloe suddenly leaned down and put her hands to her face. For a split second, the heaving of her body makes him think that she is sobbing until a maniacal cackle erupted from the fragile, young woman.

The words "I'm not crazy" escape with the laughter as Clark's mind reeled from the event of the last few seconds and with his knowledge of the past week, he came to the only explanation for this turn of events.

"Did Lionel put you up to this? Or did you--" 

Clark's accusation sobered Chloe up from her near breakdown as she cut it short with a fury that would redefine the adage, "How dare you! We've been friends for, what, four years now? Is that all you think I am? Some sort of spy? Someone who can't be trusted with your secrets? Did you think that once I found out what you were that I'd make it headline news? Tell me, Clark, do you really think that espionage and betrayal is all I'm capable of? Is that really how lowly you think of me?"

With each question, Chloe jabbed her finger into his chest. Clark has been hit with vehicles and explosions but nothing is more painful than the look in Chloe's eyes as she let out her pain from his accusation. Looking into her eyes and seeing the hurt, Clark knew he would rather be shot with a kryptonite bullet again than have the stabbing pain he felt for hurting her. For a second, he didn't know what to say and neither of them have a chance to hear the reply as a gunshot rang out from the woods.

Pete walked out into the clearing with the gun in his hand. His eyes held the single-minded determination of an assassin. He stopped at point blank range from Chloe and pulled the trigger again.

Faster than Chloe's eyes could see, Clark grabbed the bullet mere inches from her face.

"How did you…."

Clark handed her the bullet. "I thought you knew everything."

Chloe sat back down on the bumper of her car and buried her face in her hands again.

Pete's almost forgotten presence snapped the both of them out of their reverie. "How did I end up..? Clark? Chloe? What on earth is going…? Why do I have a gun in my hands??"

Matter-of-factly, Clark replied, "You tried to shoot Chloe."

"I WHAT??"

"We think that someone, probably Lionel Luthor is hypnotizing people to kill Chloe."

Completely out of context, Chloe giggled. "I guess we'll have to finish our conversation later, Clark."

Clark, suddenly remembering that he has two problems at hand, looked at Pete for reassurance. "It's okay, Chloe, Pete knows."

Pete looked from Clark to Chloe, shocked. "Chloe knows? How'd she find out?"

"I was kinda wondering that myself."

Chloe gave a small manic giggle. "It's a long story. If I can survive the next few days, I'll tell it to you."

Clark put a hand on her shoulder. She twitched away from his touch. "Want me to drive you home, Chloe?"

Chloe only nodded.

************************************************

That evening, Pete found Clark in his loft, staring at his computer monitor.

"Hey, bud. How ya doin?"

"Just trying to figure out why I tried to run Chloe down with my parent's truck."

"Any luck?"

"One lead. I got a strange email. I don't even remember opening it."

Pete leaned over Clark's shoulder. "From Brainwave?"

"Never heard of them."

"What's the email say?"

Clark tries to open the email. An error message popped up on his screen. EMAIL IS LOCKED. "I wonder if you got the same email. Let's go over to your house and check it out. If you did, call Chloe and tell her about it."

"Why don't you call Chloe? And, seriously, how'd she find out?"

"I have no clue. But it's really freaking me out."

"Why?"

"Have you ever seen Chloe break down before?"

"No."

"Me neither. How would you feel if you were the cause of something so horrendous that it caused her to act like that?"

"Pretty crappy."

"Yeah. So I think distance is best until she processes."

"Your call. But, Clark, I freaked out too, remember?"

"Yeah, but with you it was different."

"How?"

Clark sighed. "Look, can we just deal with the problem at hand here and worry about all that later?"

Pete nodded.

*****************************************

An hour later, Pete knocked on Chloe's door. Lana opened it. "Hey Pete. What's up?"

"Is Chloe in?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with her? She's been locked up in her room all night crying."

"I think she's just shaken up that people are being hypnotized to kill her."

"Death threats never shook her in the past."

Pete shrugged. "Can you ask her to come down?"

"Yeah."

A few minutes later, a splotchy-faced Chloe walked out the front door to stand with Pete. She wouldn't meet his eyes. Pete took a hold of her shoulder. "Wanna go for a drive?"

"Yeah."

As Pete started the car, a heavy silence fell between the two. Pete finally broke it. "Clark and I did some research. We both got strange emails from someone called Brainwave before we, well, went postal."

Chloe only made a noncommittal grunt.

"We think this Brainwave person is behind the whole deal."

"Oh."

Pete stopped the car and pulled over to the side of the road. "Chloe, what's up? Are you mad at me?"

"No, it's just…. Well, this whole Clark deal is freaking me out."

"I feel you there. When he told me, I couldn't process it at first. Eventually, though, with time, things got easier."

"Alien. Clark is a freakin alien. The story of the century literally lands right here in Smallville, and I'll never tell a soul."

"Well, that's good to hear."

"I wouldn't do that to him. It just freaks me out though. I won't ever be able to look at him the same way again. I can't."

"I got used to it."

"How long have you known?"

"A year. The thing that pissed me off the most is that he lied to me about it."

"You know, that's really not bothering me."

"What is?"  
            "I don't know… He looks so… normal."

"He is. Well, mostly. He never asked for what happened to him. He just tries to do what's best with the gifts he's been given."

"Gifts."

"Yeah, that's what they are."

"Pete, can you drive me home?"

Pete put the car into drive. "Yeah."

***************************************************

"How is she?"

Clark paced around the loft like a tiger in a cage.

"Freaked out. I think she's just trying to get used to the idea."

"She can't get past the whole alien thing, can she?"

"She's kinda having a rough time with it."

Clark finally stopped pacing, and sat on the couch. "I feel so terrible about all this. My being who I am just brings pain and misery to everyone."

"If you weren't who you were, Chloe'd be dead right now."

"Yeah. But, seriously, except for the fact that I've saved your life…"

"On countless occasions"

"Regardless. Has me being… an alien… brought you anything positive?"

"Well, at least I've got some peace of mind from knowing if there's intelligent life in the universe."

"Haha." Clark's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Seriously, though, me being who I am has only brought pain to the people around me. Chloe's a wreck. I've put my parents through hell, and I'm sure this whole thing hasn't exactly been easy on you."

"Clark, go talk to her. You'll do the both of you a favor by it."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"When she looks at me, it's like she sees through me. She sees me as an alien."

"Well, bud, you are."

"You think this is exactly an easy thing to adjust to??"  
            "Probably not."

"How would you feel if one day your dad came up to you and said you were from another planet?"

"Probably freaked out."

"Yeah."

Pete looked at his friend. "You've never totally gotten used to the idea, have you?"

"Mostly. But, every now and then, I remember, and my stomach sinks. Being around Chloe makes me realize what every single person I know would do if they knew the truth. And it makes me feel lousy for lying to them, and makes me feel miserable because I can _never _tell people the truth. I'll always be saving people in shadows, running from the police. No one can know, because no one could handle it."

"You could always put on tights and become Warrior Angel."

"Very funny."

Pete sighed. "Clark. Go talk to Chloe. I'm kicking your butt out the door."

Both boys turn their heads as they hear footsteps on the stairs. "No need to." Chloe walked into the loft.

Pete looked at the two of them. "Um, I'm gonna go research. Bye." He scuttled down the stairs.

Clark and Chloe stared at each other for a minute, the uncomfortable silence growing between them.

"So… how long have you been listening."

"Sorry about that. I heard most of it."

"Look, Chloe, I'm sorry I…"

"No, Clark. Let's just put this all to the side until we solve this whole hypnotizing issue. We'll worry about it later. Let's just pretend for a moment that I'm still clueless."

"Chloe, we need to work this out."

"Clark, please. Let me work. I'll feel better if I'm working."

"Well, our first lead is this Brainwave. We can start there."

Chloe pulled her laptop out of her bag. "Let's start with tracking the IP address."

A few minutes later, a message pops onto the screen: Computer registered to Chloe Sullivan, IP address registered to LuthorCorp. "Oh lovely. Looks like Lionel's out to get me again." As she said those words, she knew they were wrong. She tried to remember back to the show. _Summerholt__,_ she thought to herself.

***********************************************

The next morning, Clark walked into the Torch. Chloe was sitting at her computer. She smiled, and shook her head.

            "What's so funny?"

            "The thought of an alien attending high school."

            Clark suddenly found his fingernails to be the most interesting thing in the world. "I thought we were putting that conversation on hold."

            "Sorry, Clark. Did you find anything out?"

            "Yeah, I talked to Lex last night. The hard drive had been taken out of your old computer."

            "My hard drive with all my email addresses."

            "Right. Lex gave me this surveillance photo. He said her name is Molly."

            Chloe took the photo from Clark. "Molly Griggs. I know."

            "How?"

            "Long story. But," Chloe scribbled down an address onto a piece of paper, "this is where you'll find her." Chloe was impressed with herself that she remembered the apartment number from the television show of herself. As she watched Clark speed out the door of the Torch, she thought to herself, _I'm in control of my destiny again._

******************************

Seconds later, Clark knocks on the door of Apartment 927 in the Centennial Towers. The woman from the surveillance picture opens the door.

            "Molly Griggs?"

            "Who are you?"

            "A friend of Chloe Sullivan." Clark looked over her shoulder to see a computer facing a large picture window looking out over Metropolis. Clark walked to the computer and started to bring up information. 

            Molly grabbed him from behind. "Get away from that!" Her struggles are lost on Clark who kept her away with one hand. A small disk pops from the disk drive. 

            "This is the program Molly?"

            "Give me that!!"

            "I'll take that as a yes." Clark looked back down to the computer screen. "You sent an email to my mother??"

            "You won't be able to get to her before she kills Chloe. I won't allow you to hurt us."

            Clark rolled his eyes and Molly and runs out of the room.

***********************************

Chloe walked into the Kent's barn. "Mrs. Kent? I got your call."

            Martha walked out of the shadows. "Chloe."

            "Are you okay, Mrs. Kent?"

            Martha grabbed a sickle from the wall.

            "Oh crap." Chloe turned around to run and slammed into Jonathan. He shoved her against a support beam, wrapping a chain around her neck. "Help!" she managed to choke out. Martha inched closer and closer with the sickle.

            Suddenly, the voice Chloe wanted to hear most in the world rung out from the entrance of the barn. "MOM!" Chloe watched as Clark moved from the entrance of the barn to her side before she could blink. He pushed Jonathan and Martha aside and took the chain away from Chloe's neck. "Are you okay, Chloe?"

            "Yeah. Thank you, Clark." She put her arms around him. "I'm so glad you're here."

            Clark smiled. "I stopped Molly, no one else will come for you."

            Suddenly, Chloe felt Clark wince in her embrace. "Clark? What's wrong? CLARK!" Clark collapsed to the floor, and Chloe watched as Jonathan swung at his son with a piece of Kryptonite in his hand.

            "Meteor rock really hurts him. Oh God." Chloe ran to a lever, pulled it, and dropped bales and bales of hay onto Jonathan, Martha, and Clark. The Kryptonite rolled to her feet. Chloe looked down at the rock. She grabbed it and hunked it out of the barn.

            A second later, Clark heaved a hay bale off of his back. It flew more than 20 feet. Chloe just watched in amazement. A few minutes later, Jonathan and Martha dig their way out of the mess. "What happened?" Martha asked.

            "You were both hypnotized to kill Chloe."

            "How, son?" Jonathan asked.

            "I took care of it."

            Martha, her mothering instincts taking over, went over to Chloe, and picked hay out of her hair. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

            "I'm fine, Mrs. Kent. Are you okay?"

            "We're fine. We're just glad you weren't hurt. Clark, honey, why don't you drive Chloe home? Your father and I will pick up this mess."

            Clark shot an anxious look at Chloe. Chloe studied her hands for a minute. "Yeah, Clark. I'd like to talk to you about all this for a few minutes."

*******************************

"Okay, Clark, you level with me, I'll level with you."

            "I thought you knew everything already."

            "Not all of it. I just know the stuff that happened up until the tornado, and a few things that have happened since you got home from Metropolis."

            "How?"

            "You tell me everything, and I'll tell you how I know."

            Clark nodded. "Start at the tornado?"

            "Yeah."

            "I don't entirely understand that bit myself yet. It was really strange. I ran into the tornado after Lana, and it was almost like I willed myself to go towards her truck."

            "You can fly now??"

            "I don't know everything about me yet. There's still a lot, well, um, my life is strange."

            "I picked up on that."

            Clark gave a small, humorless laugh. "So you know about the x-ray bit, right?"

            "Yeah."

            "Heat vision?"

            "What do you mean, heat vision?"

            "I can heat up things, or catch things on fire with my eyes."

            "Cool!"

            "Wasn't fun at first. I couldn't control it."

            "Okay, that would suck."

            "Remember the fire at the Talon?"

            "Yeah. Ohhhh." Chloe nodded with understanding.

            "Then there was the cave. I don't know exactly how, but apparently people from, well, where I'm from have come here before, and wrote the messages in the cave."

            "So you can read it?"

            "Yeah."

            "Where ARE you from, Clark?"

            "A planet called Krypton."

            "Why were you sent here?"

            "I don't know. I just know that this is my home."

            Chloe reached out and touched Clark's arm. _Alien arm, _she thought to herself_, I'm touching an alien.  _"It's so hardto believe."

            Clark took her hand. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

            "For what?"

            "For being what I am. Because of me, you've got all this trauma in your life."

            "No, Clark, it's not your fault. You didn't choose this. It chose you." Chloe took her hand away from Clark's.

            "You're not used to all this, are you?"

            "How could I be? Clark, as cool as I thought it would be to meet an alien, I'll be honest, I'm having trouble with it. I need time to process all of this."

            "I understand." Clark replaced both hands onto the steering wheel and stared out to the road. Silence weighed between them. Clark pulled into Chloe's driveway and shut off the car. "I guess I'll see you around then."

"It's time I'm honest with you. Come in."

Chloe showed Clark the DVD set. The two of them watched in silence for the next two hours as their lives played out before them on the television screen. 

"Where did you get this, Chloe?"

"Would you believe me if I said from an alternate dimension where we are nothing more than characters on a television show?"

Clark looked at her like she was nuts.

"Oh, come on. Both of us have had to swallow pretty big bites recently. Trust me."

"Okay. How is this possible?"

"A fissure. Created by a Meteor Rock bomb."

"Kryptonite. It's called Kryptonite."

Chloe nodded. "A Kryptonite bomb then. Somehow, it blew me into another world. A world where writers determine our future."

"Not anymore."

"No, we control ourselves now. I wonder what will be on the TV show?"

"Who cares?"

"What do you mean?"

"We can't let anyone else find out about this." Clark reached over and took the DVD out of the TV set. He carefully put it back into the case. With DVD in hand, he walked into Chloe's bathroom and turned on the bathtub. A flash of heat vision later, the DVD case was in flames. 

"What are you doing, Clark?"

"There's too much information in there, Chloe! No one else can find out!" He dropped the DVDs into the bathtub, the water extinguishing the flames. "I'll fix the fissure. No one can get out, no one can come in."

Clark started to storm out of the room. "Clark, wait." Chloe grabbed his arm, stopping him. "There's more I need to tell you. Stuff about your future. What you'll become!"

Clark looked into her eyes. "Not now, Chloe. We're masters of our own destiny, remember?" He ripped his arm from her grasp and walked out the door.

*commercial break*


	3. Diversion

TITLE: Crossroads 

AUTHOR: William Rayne  
EMAIL: knytmare@yahoo.com  
RATING: PG-13

SUMMARY: Chloe takes a trip to the 'real world', our world and now has to deal with the information she has learned. Also has the theme of free will versus predetermination.

SPOILERS: Set after a modified "Delete", pseudo-spoilers for "Velocity" 

PAIRING: Clark/Chloe…sorta  
DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, email me

DISCLAIMER someone else owns 'em, I'm just taking them out to play. Don't sue me, I have no money 

FEEDBACK: Desired like none other. I want any kind of feedback, but detailed critiques would be an enormous help.

NOTES AND NEWS: Thanks to Deia for being a great beta reader and having better editing skills than I. Still having trouble with formatting this to work with fanfiction.net but hopefully this go around I won't hit any snags with the presentation for the story. If you like this story, please read and review my other stories. I'm looking for beta readers/editors, please message me. I like to know the people I'm trusting with 'my work' (refer to disclaimer). Oh yeah, I assume that the reader has a familiarity with the series, so hence the lack of detail in character descriptions and places. Trying to get better with my tenses, please bear with. I'm flattered by the reviews I've gotten, I'm trying to get the acts done as quickly as possible, but I'm wanting to get the best work possible with all my stories. Thank you for being patient with the time between posts.

As always, Italics denote thoughts or voice-over depending contextually. Underlines denote disgust or sarcasm depending contextually. Bolds are stressed.

267

Crossroads

"If you desire to know the truth, you also must possess the courage to accept it."

**Act 3 - Diversion**

Chapter 1

Clark ran to the bank with a near-mindless determination to ensure that the fissure that brought Chloe to another world and imparted her with the knowledge and evidence of his secret was truly closed. _Has it really been a couple of days?_ Clark thought as he kept out of the security camera's sight and fried them with a couple bursts of heat vision. _It seems a lot longer than that, but either way, Chloe knows. There's no changing that._ He scanned the building with his x-ray vision, found the alarm and redundant alarm systems and disabled those as well. _And that DVD set, that's just…_He rubbed his temple as his mind worked in overdrive in an attempt to process what he saw in the last couple of hours. _Concentrate on the fissure and deal with that later._ Breaking into the bank with his super-strength, Clark stepped in and looked around.

After a few seconds of looking around, Clark scratched his head. _What am I doing? I have no clue what I'm looking for,_ Clark thought as he sped back to Chloe's.

Chloe opened the door and seeing Clark, grinned and said, "Five seconds."

Clark looked at her quizzically, "Huh?"

"Five seconds," Chloe repeated, "That's how long it took you to get back here. Funny thing is that I thought it'd be longer…even with your superspeed."

Clark, becoming unnerved by Chloe throwing her knowledge of his secret about so carelessly, hissed, "_Chloe_."

Chloe rolled her eyes and stated as Clark began looking around past her, "Don't worry, Dad and Lana are asleep. I'm sure you've already confirmed that with that vision thing you do. You have nothing to worry about. I on the other hand am going to be getting some dirty looks and possibly some questions from Lana tomorrow for having you in my room for two hours with the door locked."

Slack-jawed, Clark stuttered, "Huh? How did you know I…and Lana, you really think she thought...you and I, I mean…"

Chloe sighed exasperatedly, "Men. You storm off all hero-of-the-day-like…which I guess being a hero and all kinda makes sense, but not the point…" she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, "So you storm off and think you'll just solve the problem by brute force. Thing is, Clark, that this particular problem requires a bit more thought than you gave it when you left here. And seeing you back here just confirms that."

Pushing a confused Clark out of the doorway, locking up behind her and nearly dragging Clark towards the bank by the arm, Chloe elaborated, "Just how did you think you'd find the fissure without me? Or better yet, how do you expect to close it?"

"I don't know Chloe!" Clark almost screamed as he wrenched his arm from Chloe's pull. Not noticing her look of hurt and confusion he continued, "All I know is that I can't risk it being open if it still is and…"

The silence and Chloe's expression reached him, "I'm sorry. That didn't come out the way I wanted…it's just that…this is a lot for me to take in."

"Welcome to the club, Clark," Chloe sardonically replied, "Of which, I'm fairly sure I'm somehow the founder…"

"Chloe…" Clark awkwardly answered.

"No, Clark, just forget it. I'm beginning to wish I were able to. Since you're so dead-set on closing it, why don't you go do that? Oh yeah, that's right…you needed my help…so you go try to see if you can find something that looks like a heat mirage and blast it with your heat-ray vision thingy and see if that does anything. I'm gonna go home and rest, this has been too long of a day."

"Chloe…" Clark said softly as he laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Stop while you're ahead, Clark. Go. Do your Warrior Angel thing. Take some time to deal with this…Lord knows we both could use some time to ourselves right now," Chloe said, not looking back at him, as she shrugged his hand off his shoulder. A tear streamed down her cheek. Chloe resisted the urge to sniffle and added, "You need time to process."

Clark watched her fade off into the horizon of streetlights and cursed his superhearing as he heard her let loose her tears from about a block and a half away. He wrestled with his impulse to try to comfort her and his desire to make sure the fissure was closed, finally deciding that Chloe was right and he needed more time to process. _My destiny,_ he thought of what Chloe had said when he rushed out the first time, _I already know that Chloe…it's to cause pain and suffering to those who get close to me and my secret. What more do I need to know?_

Perhaps it was the urgency of the matter or perhaps it was a deep seeded need to not hear Chloe cry anymore, but he sped back towards the bank with new determination. It took him almost a minute to spot what Chloe described, a sort of 'warble' in the visual space within the bank. He only caught it out of the corner of his eye. It was a few feet off the ground and barely the size of his head. _It's funny how such a little thing can cause so much trouble for me._ Focusing his heat-vision, he hit the fissure. It closed slowly and he opened up his power to its fullest. The fissure closed faster and when it becomes the size of his eyes, his heat vision reflected back to him and hit him squarely in the chest with enough force to drive him through the wall into the alleyway.

Stunned by this turn of events, Clark shook his head and barely has time to notice that the fissure was no longer there before a flashlight beam came down the alleyway towards him.

"Who's there?" said a woman's voice and as the flashlight came up on the broken wall, she unholstered her pistol and brought her radio up to her mouth. As Clark sped away, he heard with his superhearing, "This is Officer Dorey requesting back-up for a possible break-in at the Smallville Savings and Loan…"

********************************************************

Lana heard the front door slam and went to investigate. _Am I the only light sleeper in this house?_ She barely had her door open when she noticed an oblivious, tear stained Chloe come up the stairs and go into her room. _What has __Clark__ done now? Should I ask? No, if there is something going on, one of them will tell me. Besides, it's probably something to do with a new meteor mutant,_ she reassured herself as she ignored the ominous feeling that it was something more than that.

Chapter 2

Chloe was flying. Actually, truly, unbelievably flying…and not in a plane. As she turned to see whose arms were wrapped around her waist, she saw Superman. She knew that being held by Clark would make her soar to new heights, she just never _ever_ thought it would be in the literal sense. As she took in the aroma of the boy she loved since she first met him, she knew she would love him until the end of time. Chloe was surprised that she felt warm. Flying without the aid of a plane was _a lot_ colder than she had expected. _No wonder he's wearing a spandex suit, it's cold up in the clouds,_ she thought to herself as she glanced down at her hand as it absentmindedly stroked the arms that held her from a tumbling death. He took hold of her shoulder, and that single touch increased the magic of flying by tenfold.

_ "Chloe?"_

"Hmm, yes?" she purred back blissfully.

_"Chloe?"_

"Shhh, don't ruin it by speaking…it's so perfect," she murmured while taking in the landscape.

_"Chloe Renee Sullivan…you wake up this instance. You're gonna be late for school…"_

"Huh," she said groggily as Gabe Sullivan took away the pillow that she was clinging on to.

"Lana's already went ahead without you," Gabe told her once he was sure that she was among the living. He kissed her on her forehead, "Coffee's already in your mug, sweetie, I've got to go…can't be late for this new job. Don't forget I'll be gone for the training seminar tomorrow, you girls don't get too wild, ok?"

As her father closed the door of her room behind him, Chloe began her morning ritual of waking up. Thoughts drifting back to her dream, she moaned, got out of bed and proceeded to get changed for school. The coffee was where Gabe said it would be, not an almond mocha latte with extra whip but it got the job done. As she thought of the events of the past few days and compared them to how regular this morning seemed, she thought herself, _There__ are some things that will never change and there are some things that do._

**************************************************************

"Clark!" Lana called out.

Clark stopped in front of the school and turned to face her, "Oh, hi Lana. What can I do for you?"

Taking a good, long look at Clark, Lana asked, "Something wrong, Clark? You seem preoccupied."

"Um, no," Clark responded as he scratched the back of his head, "Everything's good."

Lana shot him a look that Clark would swear was an innate ability of women.

"Ok, I just got a lot on my mind with midterms coming up," Clark said wanting to avoid anything that had to do with dealing with what was really on his mind.

"Don't lie to me and don't try to change the subject on me, Clark Kent," Lana said matter-of-factly as she looked him dead in the eye, "Do you think I'm a fool? I know about what happened with Chloe…"

Clark blanched. _Chloe told Lana? Just when I thought I could trust her…how could she?_

"Alright, I don't know the exact details." Lana said and as she saw him go from shocked and into confused, "But I can guess what happened when I wake up to the sound of her crying as she came in last night…"

_Chloe.__ I'm sorry, I didn't…_ Clark thought, tuning out Lana's chastisement and feeling infinitely worse for the way he treated her last night.

"…Don't get me wrong, I think that the two of you giving things a second shot might be good for you. But so help me God, Clark Kent, if you send her home crying again, I _will break your arm,_" Lana said threateningly as she waved her finger in front of his nose for emphasis. She stalked off into the school, leaving a bewildered Clark behind.

"Whoa, trouble in paradise, bro?" came Pete's voice from behind Clark.

"You don't know the half of it," Clark replied wryly.

As they walked into the school, Pete turned toward his friend, "Then tell me about it."

"No offense, Pete, but I'd rather not. I'd just like to try to forget the past 24 hours. Hell, I'm not greedy, I'll take forgetting the past 12 hours."

Pete let out a low whistle, "That bad, eh?"

*********************************************************

Pete cornered Chloe after her Calculus class, right before she headed off to lunch, "Chloe!"

"Uh, hi Pete, what's up?" she asked a bit nonplussed.

"I was hoping you could tell me, Clark's acting..." he searched for how to phrase it, still getting use to the fact that Chloe now knew Clark's secret, "…more secretive than usual."

"Um, well…" she stalled, not knowing what to say since Clark apparently had not revealed how she knew the secret to Pete. Settling on sidestepping the issue altogether, she said, "Let's just say that Clark needs to process what happened last night and leave it at that, please?"

"Uh, huh. Fair enough," Pete said smoothly even though it was clearly visible that he wasn't satisfied with the answer but not wanting to press.

"Thanks Pete," Chloe said apologetically as she tossed an award-winning smile.

Pete disappeared into the body of students and Chloe almost made it to lunch when she was stopped by Lana. _And up until now today's been **so** normal, sans __Clark__ avoiding me like the plague…wait, that tends to be normal too. Wonder if it's scripted._

"Chloe, got a minute?"

"Sure, what's up?" _Please don't ask what I think you're going to ask._

"What's the deal with Clark?"

_And sudden I'm the expert…no, wait, I am, sorta._ She sighed, inwardly and externally.

Perhaps it was her low esteem or just pure misinterpretation, but Lana took Chloe's sigh in combination with Clark's reaction earlier this morning as an admission that there was something more between them than the usual meteor mutant mystery and stated bluntly and shockingly, "So, it's true…"

When Chloe saw Lana's reaction and words, she found herself staring at a pseudo-mirror image of her reaction to finding out Clark's secret. _Oh my God, how does…she must've heard when __Clark__…that's gotta be it._

"Lana," she began.

"How could you not tell me? I thought we were like sisters," Lana said, nearly in tears.

"Lana, it's not like Clark…I…meant to…meant for this to…" Chloe searched for a way to explain things without revealing too much to the crowd that started to gather around the sight of a weeping Lana. Chloe, now more than ever, felt the weight of Clark's secret on her shoulders. _This must be how Atlas feels,_ she thought wryly.

"Is this your way of getting back at me for my not telling about me and Clark?" Lana said angrily through a stream of tears, "Well, newsflash Chloe, it wasn't my place to tell you and now I can't get a word of truth from you or Clark. I thought you both were more mature than this."

"Lana, that's not it at all…" Chloe didn't get to finish as she was cut short by a slap to the face from Lana that resounded throughout the hall. As she held her bruised face, murmurs of what just occurred came through the crowd but all Chloe could hear was Lana's angry parting words echoing in her head, "that's so petty." _Lana you've got this all wrong, but right now I don't think you want to hear the truth even if I could tell you._

Lana stalked out of the front of the school, not at all happy with how things were turning out today. She didn't notice Pete until she ran into him.

Pete grabbed her by the arm, "Whoa, what's the matter Lana? You seem really upset."

Laughing bitterly, she replied, "That the understatement of the century."

"Care to talk?"

Looking into Pete's eyes, Lana nodded and said, "Sure, if you're not gonna lie to my face."

Laughing, Pete wrapped his arm around her warmly and said, "Not a problem."

The two walked towards an obviously tricked out Camero. Lana stopped to remark, "Nice ride."

"Not mine, borrowing it from a friend," Pete replied, opening the door for Lana. He hoped into the driver's side and smiled broadly, "but it is really pimp, ain't it?"

As they sped out of the parking lot, Lana gasped and gripped onto her seat. Pete laughed and said, "Relax, Lana. I know how to handle this car. Trust me."

Lana, a look of panic still in here eyes, stared at Pete as he whipped around corners at a highly unsafe speed. "So, what's got you wound up, Pete?"

Pete threw her a quizzical look and stated, "Thought you wanted to talk."

Taking in the quickly fading roadside, Lana replied, "Yeah, I did and we are. So what's got you so wound up?"

One glance at the expression on Lana's face told Pete he wasn't going to win an argument over semantics. Sighing, Pete said plainly, "Clark and Chloe. Something's up between those two, something big and I can't seem to get a straight answer from either of them."

"Must be Wednesday," Lana remarked dryly.

"Huh?"

Taking her eyes off of the passing farmland, Lana looked at Pete intently, "I mean, welcome to my world." Seeing that he was still perplexed, she elaborated, "It seems to me, that in this town, the juiciest gossip tends to revolve around me and Clark or Clark and Chloe or something to that effect. It's like we're on a friggin' teeny bopper soap opera on the WB."

Laughing at Lana's animated explanation, Pete affected an announcer's voice and said, "This week on 'Clark's Creek', Clark sulks and Chloe gets pissed off at Clark and cries. Meanwhile, Lana gets attacked by yet another meteor mutant and everybody forgets about Pete. Catch it after 'Angel' on Wednesday's WB."

"Clark's Creek?"

"Yeah, like Dawson's Creek."

Lana gave a true laugh, the first she'd had all day. "Our lives are about that dramatic." Lana got a mock-dreamy look in her eye. "If only Pacey was here." Lana sobered for a moment. "Everyone doesn't forget about you though, Pete." She put her hand on his arm.

"Thanks Lana," Pete took one hand off the wheel and covered Lana's "but sometimes it feels that way. After all, you guys are so wrapped up in your little love triangle thing…no offense."

"None taken."

"I mean, why should any of you guys care to notice anything new in my life."

"That's not true, Pete," Lana consoled, "We're your friends, we care. Tell me what's new in your life. How about you start with how you met your new friend that lent you this incredibly expensive looking car?" 

The bitterness gone from his eyes, he gently squeezed her hand. Pete shot Lana a smile that could melt any girl's defenses and said, "Tell you what, I'll tell you that story after you share what's bugging you."

Nodding, Lana said, "That's only fair, tit for tat…"

"I didn't say anything about flashing me…though I wouldn't mind," Pete teased.

Turning a bit red, Lana amended, "I mean that's fair enough. Besides the same thing was on my mind."

"What you flashing me?"

"NO," she said while turning a deeper shade of red. Lana took a deep breath in, and said in a rush, "I think Clark and Chloe had sex."

If he had been taking a drink, he would've sprayed it out of his mouth but he was driving a car at close to 100 miles per hour and the impact of Lana's statement almost had deadly consequences. As he regained control of the Camero, Pete pulled over to the side of the road and said, "What?!?"

"I think Clark and Chloe had sex."

"No, no, no. I definitely heard that part. I'm just wanting to know what makes you think that. 'Cause I'm damn sure I'd know if got himself some play…er, I mean made sweet love."

"It's ok, Pete, I was a freshman dating a senior. Just how naïve and virginal do you really think I am? You can speak plainly to me, I'm a big girl, I can take it. As for how I came to this conclusion, let's review the facts of the past few days. After Clark tried to kill Chloe, she goes off to talk to him and as near as I can figure, they have some discussion or something happened where Chloe ended up crying her eyes out. After that, they're nearly inseparable though they claim it's all in the name of investigation but any fool can tell you that the tension between them is as thick as mud, and has nothing to do with tracking down Chloe's assassin. Then last night, Clark and Chloe come home and didn't even notice that I was in early from the Talon. They go straight up to her room and I hear the door lock. A few hours later, I heard Chloe's bath running and look out the window and to see Clark's truck still there. I think Clark probably told her that it was a mistake because Chloe came back crying later that night. Then when I try to talk to the both of them, they both lie to my face. Not to mention completely avoiding the subject to me."

Pondering Lana's rant, Pete said hesitantly, "I can agree that something is up with those two, but _sex_? There's got to be a more sane explanation."

"Oh yeah, then tell me this. You and Clark are best friends, right?" At Pete's nod of agreement, she continued, "and I thought, and still think, Chloe and I are best friends. The both of them have bared a lot to us over these past few years, or so I'm assuming."

"Yeah," Pete nodded in agreement.

"So tell me what, other than sex, could've happened between those two that would leave their best friends sitting in the middle of nowhere, not knowing what the hell is going on," Lana concluded with a bit of triumph in her voice as she saw Pete's mind try to wrap itself around her challenge.

Looking at the matter from Lana's perspective, Pete could only say, "I guess you're right, sex would be as valid an explanation as any at this point. And for some reason, I'm less inclined to disagree. Especially with everything that's been going on lately."

Seeing that Lana was looking for him to find some hole in her theory and disprove it somehow, Pete added in an attempt to console her, "But what would I know. After all, knowing this town, it could just have something to do with yet another meteor freak."

Pete and Lana sat in mutual silence, both of them knowing that it was something more than the average, run of the mill meteor freak that was disrupting their lives.

Chapter 3

Lex glanced around The Talon and spotted a pre-occupied Clark Kent. "Sorry to interrupt your brooding Clark, but you haven't seen Lana recently, have you?" Lex asked as he approached the teenager. As he noticed the book that had occupied Clark's attention, he raised an eyebrow and stated with interest, "Universal Insights: Theories of Dreams, Reality, Consciousness, and the Universe?"

As he snapped the book shut, Clark remarked offhandedly, "School project and no, I haven't seen Lana since this morning."

Lex slid into the vacant seat in front of Clark and stated, "So Smallville High is teaching Quantum Physics now, huh?"

Clark looked sheepishly at his friend and said, "You got me, it's research for The Torch. Sorry, just becoming a standard reaction to embellish when it comes to researching the weird for the paper."

"Understandable. If I haven't personally witness most of the strange occurrences in this town, I would be hard pressed to believe the stories and probably rank Chloe and your stories along with the average supermarket tabloid. So what's the latest mystery, Shaggy?"

"Nothing really," Clark said with the barest hint of caution, "Just some rumors Chloe recently uncovered."

Lex appeared content with Clark's explanation. As Clark mentally breathed a sigh of relief, he changed the subject by prompting, "So what you need to see Lana for?"

"I wanted to go over some items about the Talon with her, nothing big really."

It was Clark's turn to express disbelief and Lex caved in, "Ok, you got me too. I really just wanted to get out of Metropolis and away from my father. However seeing that my excuse for coming down here isn't around, I should probably head back. Tell Lana I stopped by."

"Will do." As Lex slid out of the booth, Clark noticed something drop from his pocket. He picked it up and found that it was a pin that said, "Lex Luthor for President".

Puzzled, he got up, stopped his friend and said, "Lex you dropped this."

As Lex took the pin and flashed an embarrassed smile, Clark remarked, "Aren't you below the minimum age to run?"

"Yeah, I am. I just…nevermind, it's a strange story."

"Lex, you're talking to me. I live in a town that redefines strange on a weekly basis."

Lex chuckled, "I guess you're right. Not much of story, though."

Prompted by Clark's dubious looks, Lex continued, "I'm sitting at my desk this afternoon and out of nowhere, this pin clatters onto my desk. I look around to how it could've gotten there, but didn't see anything out of the usual. Very strange. I'm just keeping it around, hoping the answer to its origin will somehow manifest itself."

As Lex exits the Talon, Clark glanced towards his book, thought back to the events of the previous night and wondered.

**************************************************

Chloe knocked on the kitchen door of the Kent household and poked her head into the house.

"Hello?"

"Oh, Chloe, how nice to see you," Martha said as she put a pie in the oven, "I really didn't get to apologize for last night."

"No big, Mrs. Kent. Wasn't really you or your fault."

"I know, but still…I feel better if I apologize," Martha said with a half-smile.

Chloe smiled back at Mrs. Kent and thought, _Wonder if the __Kent__ charm comes from her or from the both of his folks._ As she left her own private musings, she returned the smile and said to Martha, "In that case, apology accepted."

"Clark not in the barn?" Martha asked, puzzled as to why Chloe chose to stop at the house first.

"I haven't checked. I wanted to how you were doing after that hay bale hit you."

"I'm doing fine. Thanks for the concern though, sweetie," Martha replied warmly.

"Guess I'll head off to the barn and hope Clark's in."

"Good to see you under better circumstances, Chloe."

When Chloe left, Jonathan poked his head into the kitchen and said, "I thought I heard you talking to someone when I came in."

"It was just Chloe, dear. She came over looking for Clark"

*****************************************************

Chloe walked into the barn and up to the Fortress of Solitude to find Clark sitting on his couch with his back to her, absorbed in a book.

"Whatcha got there, Clark?" she asked as she tried to peer over his shoulder to see the pages.

Clark let out an 'eep' of surprise. When he saw Chloe, he compensated for it as he gave her a manly glare of annoyance.

Chloe thought, _Death glare much? I'm so glad that isn't one of his powers._ She walked over to his desk to examine the various other books he had out, all with the common theme of parallel or alternate universes. She remarked off-handedly, "For a boy with über senses, you're easily surprised, you know that right?" As she turned back to face Clark, she had a thought that made her shudder, _Unless__ he hasn't developed that power yet. Is death glare supposed to be one of his powers? It would make sense with the whole vision thing..._

Clark interrupted her line of thought, "No offense, but I thought we agreed to some time and space to process."

"Yeah, about that, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed a bad idea."

Prompted by Clark's compounded look of stupefaction, she rolled her eyes and stated, "Clark, I'm allowed to change my mind and rethink things." 

As Clark rolled his eyes, she continued, "Besides, I had time after I confirmed that my going to another plane of existence was real and look how I dealt. I went into denial. Which, hey, sooo not me. I know what you're thinking…"

As Clark saw that he wasn't going to get a word in edgewise, he sighed, sat down and listened as Chloe ranted on.

"Why denial? You try being in an explosion," as Clark raised his finger to interject, Chloe cut him off, "which for _you_ probably happens like every other day, but for us earthlings, not a normal occurrence. Let alone, being blasted into some bizarro universe where you're a fictional character. Plus given everything that happened in the past few weeks, I figure I deserve a little denial. Anyways, not the point. The point I was trying to make is that when I found all this out, I had no one to help deal and you do, you got me. So use me." With that said, she hopped up onto the desk and beamed a smile at Clark.

As a grin crept up on Clark's face, Chloe got a look of abject horror, got up, went over to him and proceeded to slap him even though she knew it wouldn't hurt a normal boy, let alone him. "Not what I meant. I swear, you might not be from this planet, but you're just as dirty minded as any other guy on this planet."

Clark laughed and for a moment, as they wrestled, they both forgot about the weight of the world that was on their shoulders and the tension from last night. Finally, Chloe managed to pin Clark down. As she straddled him, panting, she looked down at him with mock anger and said, "You let me win."

Clark, his eyes surrendered to her statement and replied, "Sorry, habit. Protecting my secret and all. Which reminds me…"

Chloe cut him off and asked pointedly, "Why didn't you tell your folks that I know? I thought you would've by now. And I'm guessing since you're not giving me the evil eye whenever I mention or hint about your secret or powers, that you're listening for company."

Clark looked at her and asked, "How did you…how is it that…will you please quit that?"

Chloe got off of Clark and retorted, "Oh come on Clark, I've always had questions like these before I knew of your secret. It's just then, I kept them to myself but now, I figure, _no secrets_." She stressed her last words by looking Clark dead in the eyes.

"Right. I don't know why I haven't told them. I mean I should, but I haven't. When I told Pete my secret, I told them right away but with you it's different. Plus, they'd want to know how you knew and I really don't want to go there with them right now. At least not when I'm still trying to figure that out myself." Clark said as he plopped back down on the couch.

"So what have you uncovered in your studies?" Chloe asked as she went back to the desk to peruse the contents of the books.

Clark sighed, "Nothing much at all, at least when it relates to our situation. Which isn't surprising given how _unique_ of a situation we have. Closest I can find to that is this theory that our perception of reality is a contained universe in itself. So as an extension of that would suggest that our imagination can be a world of it's own as well."

Intrigued, Chloe queried, "So the world I went into is some sort crazy thought of the bomberman?"

"Or we're someone's deranged thought," Clark countered.

Chloe laughed, "If it's all the same, Clark, I'd prefer to take the reality in which we aren't fictional. Less of a headache that way."

Chuckling, Clark got up, went over to the desk to grab another book, leaned against the desk and as he thumbed through the book, stated, "I follow you. I'd like to also, but after what you knew about Molly, I wondered…"

Chloe interrupted him, "I don't…well, at least not anymore. I mean, really, this," she indicted everything around them, "all couldn't be in the mind of some writer, even a deranged one. We're too far away from whatever the show writers intended. No fate but what we make."

Clark looked at Chloe amazed and smiled, "From philosophy to pop culture, you never cease to astonish me. Especially, these past few days."

"Actually, I think pop culture has a profound impact on society and in many ways is a modern philosophy. Take…" she cut herself off at the 'not again' look Clark threw her, "and I won't get into my _Buffy_ rant."

"Thank you. Besides, you're right. At some point you have to pick something to believe in," Clark took her hand in his, looked her dead in the eyes and finished, "and I prefer to believe in us. That this is real."

As Chloe gazed back into his eyes, her heart skipped a beat but she didn't dare ask how he meant that statement. 

That night, as she slept, her head was filled with fancies of flight.

***********************************************

The next day at school wasn't as dramatic as the previous. At the end of school, Chloe was about to enter her office to finish up on the next edition of the Torch when Lana came up to her. Chloe stepped backed from her involuntarily and raised her hands in a gesture of peace.

"Guess I deserve that," Lana remarked and as she bit her lower lip, she asked, "Can we talk?"

Chloe saw the body signal and said, "Yeah, sure" as she opened up the office and gestured for Lana to come in.

Lana clearly saw that Chloe was waiting on her to say something first, "First off, I'm sorry about yesterday. I…can I just say I was having a bad day and leave it at that?"

Chloe leaned against her desk and reluctantly nodded. Silence ensued again as the two girls looked at one another once more, Lana with the scrutinizing appraisal of a huntress and Chloe with her ever present journalistic gaze. Chloe broke the silence this round, "So, if you didn't come here to talk about that, what did you come here for?"

"Promise not to tell Clark or involve him in it?" Lana blurted out.

Chloe looked at her incredulously. Careful with her next selection of words, she started out slowly. As she spoke, she stopped leaning on the desk to take a seat in the chair. "O……K……this just went from awkward conversation to a step below 'Wall of Weird'. Care to explain that one to me or do you just want to chalk that off to something as well?"

Lana bit her lower lip again as she pondered her next sentence. She slipped from standing in front of Chloe to pulling up a seat in front of her and sitting as well. Given Lana's behavior, Chloe's journalistic instinct screamed that something wasn't right but her patience told her to wait for the answer to present itself. Lana finally chose to say, "Because I'm sure it's really nothing and maybe it's just me for being guilty for being wrapped up in my own life and it's something I don't want to bother Clark with given the way he's been and you're a reporter so therefore would be good at checking things out…"

"Lana, slow down and start from the beginning, please," Chloe pleaded at the onslaught of information to process. As Lana unwove her tale of the events after their encounter in the hallway, Chloe saw the reason for her distress. Lana didn't tell everything, certainly not the conversation Pete and her had in the car but she did tell of what she learned after.

Lana couldn't believe her ears when Pete told her how he got the car and the events of his life she didn't notice due to her absorption of her own melodrama with Clark. Pete told her that if she found it so hard to believe, she was welcome to come with him after school to check it out. She did and was amazed. She stayed for the races and the thrill of the race was exhilarating. She did have some reservations about the man behind the racing. Dante did not seem like someone Pete should be involved with. Chloe agreed to check out the place and the man named Dante. Little did she know that Clark had chanced upon their conversation and was equally determined to check it out as well as make sure Chloe was safe.

Chloe found her way into Dante's barn later that afternoon and hid herself behind some oil drums. She felt a slight breeze and was only half-surprised to find Clark standing next to her with an apologetic half-smile that seemed to say, 'Sorry, I had to get involved.' What happened next was surreal. One of the mechanics went off to get what Dante referred to as 'green'. When the burly man passed by them with a glowing container and Clark staggered into the barrels, Chloe knew they were in more trouble than they had bargained for. The mechanic stopped and discovered them. Clark, ever the hero, tried to buy Chloe some time to run but was rewarded with a slam to the gut and to the back of the head. As Clark passed out and Dante came over to survey them, Chloe would later regret the words that tumbled from her mouth.

"You're gonna regret doing that, you have _no idea_ who you're dealing with."

Dante raised his eyebrows and said menacingly, "Oh I don't Ms. Sullivan?" and as the shock of his words hit her, he continued, gesturing towards Clark, "If I'm not mistaken, that's Clark Kent, the local town hero. You don't get to be where I am without doing your homework. Local police can be on your payroll but reporters and the occasional vigilante like your boyfriend, those are wildcards that you have to keep tabs on."

Fear lay naked in Chloe's eyes as Dante's next words chilled her to the bone, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you or your boyfriend. Your families on the other hand…" Dante turned to his minions, "Bring them here, we'll show these two the stakes of the game their playing. _No Miss Sullivan, you have no idea who you're dealing with._"

*********************************************************

Martha went into the barn to find Jonathan working on the tractor. Putting her hands on her hips, she stated, "Jonathan Kent, you can work on that later, it's time for supper. I swear, you're going to work yourself to death at this rate. You're not Spiderman, you know?"

Jonathan said from underneath the tractor, "Just one second, dearest. I think I got this all wrapped up."

Martha rolled her eyes skyward and muttered, "Come in, your dinner is getting cold."

Jonathan slid out and looked at his wife. While wiping his hands clean, he asked, "Clark not coming in for dinner tonight? There an emergency I didn't hear about?"

"He said something about talking to Chloe after school."

Jonathan chuckled to himself as he turned around to put away the tools, "Glad to see he's getting over Lana. Remember when we were at that point, playing cat and mouse?"

If he wasn't so caught up in his own memories of young love, he might have noticed the lack of response from his wife. It wasn't until his next question that he sensed something was wrong and by then it was too late.

"Can you hand me the wrench behind me, dear?"

When Jonathan turned around to see why she hadn't answered, the only thing he saw was the wrench as it impacted the side of his head.

********************************************************

Chloe awoke to see Clark bathed in green light, writhing in obvious pain. _Oh my god, there's Kryptonite in here._ She surveyed the room and began to work on a plan to save Clark and win them their freedom. She and Clark were bound hand and foot with ropes. Clark was near two canisters which were emanating the eerie glow. Chloe deducted that they were in either a soundproof room or out in the country still since they hadn't bothered to gag either one of them. 

Turning to Clark, she said, "How long have I been out?"

Clark painfully replied, "I was hoping you could tell me, I just woke up myself."

Biting her lower lip, thoughtfully, Chloe said, "You don't look so good. And I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say, 'I don't want to find out if this stuff can kill you.' So…"

Clark smiled and interrupted, "So you have a plan. How can I help?"

"Tip over towards me and I'll explain."

Clark obeyed and swayed himself towards Chloe's direction. He underestimated and hit the ground hard. Under normal circumstances, he would have been fine, but these weren't normal circumstances. He tasted the coppery bitterness of blood in his mouth and felt some drip out of the corner. Not wanting Chloe to see him this weak, he tried to wipe it off against his shoulder but the damage was already done.

"Oh my god, Clark. Are you all right?"

"I'll live…hopefully. Let's hurry just in case," he replied.

Chloe tipped herself towards him and as she lied on the ground beside him, she turned to face him. She smiled slightly, their faces close together and said, "No need to let them know we're awake by shouting out our escape plan."

Clark smiled back and said, "What you have in mind?"

Chloe stifled a giggle, "You're gonna chew threw my ropes."

Clark looked perplexed and said, "Huh? Last time I checked beaver teeth wasn't one of my powers…unless you're trying to tell me something and now is hardly the time."

Chloe sighed and explained, "You're super-strong, right?" Not waiting for his nod, she continued, "So I'm guessing that with the strength comes super stamina, constitution and the like. After all, I don't ever recall you going to the dentist. Plus the whole invulnerability thing so you should be able to chew threw the ropes."

Clark looked at her like a deer caught in headlights and stated simply, "You know it's really eerie when you do that."

"Do what?"

"Know more about me than I do or than I thought you did."

"Sometimes you just have step back and truly look, Clark."

In that moment when she said that, Clark did. He began to look at her, not as the girl who he saw as only a friend but as the woman who knew him and wasn't afraid, as the woman who has always been there for him and always be. Their eyes locked and when Chloe saw that something was different. Their lips drifted towards each other and just when they were a hairsbreadth from touching, a door slammed inward and they heard something land next to them.

Startled, the teens looked toward the source and were blinded by the light.

Dante's voice broke the silence, "Kids today. Their lives may be at stake, but stick them in a dark room together and all they can think about is making out. Well, sorry to interrupt the sexcapades but I brought you kids a couple of chaperones."

The harsh effects of the light in their eyes cleared, Clark saw the face of the figure beside Dante and croaked out, "Mom?"

Martha looked at the pained expression on her son's face and sobbed, "Clark?"

*commercial break*


	4. Collision

TITLE: Crossroads

AUTHOR: William Rayne  
EMAIL: RATING: PG-13

SUMMARY: Chloe takes a trip to the 'real world', our world and now has to deal with the information she has learned. "If you desire to know the truth, you also must posses the courage to accept it."

SPOILERS: pseudo-spoilers for "Velocity" and "Obsession"

PAIRING: Clark and Chloe  
DISTRIBUTION: email me

DISCLAIMER someone else owns 'em, I'm just taking them out to play. Don't sue me, I have no money

FEEDBACK: Desired like none other. I want any kind of feedback, but detailed critiques would be an enormous help.

NOTES AND NEWS: Thanks to Deia for being a great beta reader and having better editing skills than I. Still having trouble with formatting this to work with but hopefully this go around I won't hit any snags with the presentation for the story. If you like this story, please read and review my other stories. I'm trying to get the acts done as quickly as possible, but I'm wanting to get the best work possible with all my stories (again see disclaimer). Thank you for being patient with the time between posts.

As always, Italics denote thoughts or voice-over depending contextually. Underlines denote disgust or sarcasm depending contextually. Bolds are stressed.

211

Crossroads

**Act 4 - Collision**

Chapter 1

Panic ran through Clark at the sight of his parents in the small room with him and his captor. He looked over towards the source of the thud that had interrupted Chloe, his eyes confirming that his father was also a captive. Jonathan Kent groaned and stirred slightly to reveal to all the drying blood on the side of his face.

Dante savagely pushed Martha over in the direction of her husband and turned towards Clark with malice gleaming in his eyes, "Tell you what hero, I'll let you decide…seeing as my original idea didn't pan out due to Ms. Sullivan's family not being home. So I'll give you the honor of choosing who I'm going to make an example of for you to understand that it doesn't pay to cross swords with me."

Clark glowered at the man as Dante crossed his arms smugly and smirked, "Which will it be hero? Who gets tortured and killed."

Dante gestured dramatically towards Clarks parents, "Dear Ma and Pa Kent or" and he continued the gesture to indicate Chloe, "the girlfriend?"

Dante then turned his attention to the Kents and Chloe, "I'll give you all a while to plead your case to the executioner." Clearly deriving pleasure from the horror on everyone's face, he turned to leave.

"I choose you, so help me god, there is no power on this earth that will stop me from ripping what's left of your so called heart out of your chest and shoving it down your throat if you harm either of them!" Clark vindictively shouted at Dante.

Silence filled the room. Chloe looked at Clark and the his sincerity of statement and thought, _Why can't I live a normal life so I can appreciate the fact that he hasn't denied me being called his girlfriend rather than being horrified at how much he cares for me and his folks…how much he's willing to sacrifice for us._ The shout stirred Jonathan Kent more towards consciousness as he let out a groan. Martha only looked at her son with unabashed horror, knowing that if pushed over the edge, Clark could very well fulfill his statement. Dante just smiled and let loose a demented laugh.

"Oh, that's rich. That's too fucking rich. You, harm me?" Dante said as he stalked over to Clark and gave a full soccer kick to Clark's head. Clark's head snapped back violently, clanging against one of the containers. Martha's maternal instincts took hold and as she made her way towards Dante to protect her beloved child. Dante doesn't skip a beat as he whips around to deliver a spinning backfist to her. Martha falls back from the hit, trips over her husband and gets knocked out by the wall. Chloe's screams of horror draw Dante's attention and as he makes his way towards her, Clark props himself up.

_I may not have been able to save Mom from what happened, but I'll be damned if I let anything happen to Chloe too. Dante will pay for all this._

"Hey, Dante," Clark chokes out, his mouth covered in blood from Dante's kick to his nose, "That all you got, tough guy?"

It's enough to divert Dante's attention back to Clark. Dante delivers savage blow after blow onto Clark's vulnerable body. Finally, the sound of a rib cracking causes Chloe to whimper in horror, knowing that she can not do anything to help Clark. Ironically, it is the mechanic who saves them all without knowing it as he called into the room, "Hey Dante. I need one of those canisters of green for The Boss' car."

Dante looks down at Clark's battered body, wipes spittle from his mouth and cracks his neck before calling back, "All right, Johnny. I'm done here for now anyways," he then looks down at Clark, "You still have a choice to make hero." Grabbing one of the canisters nearby, he turns to spit on Clarks face and exits the room. The sound of bolts slamming into place resounds in the small cell. Chloe regains her senses, looks at Clark and silently vows that Dante will pay for what he has done.

Chloe inches over to Clark and the damage became more apparent. Clark looks up at her, his left eye half-swollen shut and the right already showing signs of bruising, his nose smashed in, blood all over his face and matting his hair and worst of all, his skin reacting to the remaining canister of Kryptonite. Tears openly streaked down Chloe's face and Clark choked out jokingly, "So this is what it's like to have your ass kicked?"

Chloe can only sob and nod to his question. Finally she says, "Can you inch yourself away from this _filth_?" She indicates the Kryptonite container and Clark's answer is interrupted by a fit of coughing that results in him spitting out blood. He nods and as he looks with concern towards his parents, Chloe eyes grow softer and she says, "I'll check on them."

Jonathan's groan startles the two teens and his eyes adjust to the light. The first thing he sees is the prone body of his wife and exclaims, "Oh my God, Martha."

Martha stirred and muttered to herself. Chloe watched this event unfold and remembering how Clark hadn't mentioned her knowledge yet, turned towards to mouth 'What now?'

Clark had managed to drag himself as far away from the container as possible. As he noticed Chloe's question, he barely made out the words. He attempted to shrug back but the action resulted in his stifling a groan of agony. The sound was immediately picked up by Jonathan and Chloe didn't need to turn to see his reaction, she could picture it in her mind.

Giving the man time to recompose himself, she took stock of the new situation. She massaged her temple, thinking up a way out of this new situation. _Mrs. Kent looks like she'll come around soon. Mr. Kent, he'll live. And Clark…I've never seen him like that. We've been stuck in here for over an hour and if the meteor rocks don't kill him, those injuries will._

With a sound that is barely a whisper, she hiss, "_Clark._" It takes a couple of times but Clark finally notices her call with his super-hearing. His demeanor asking her what she wants. She replies to it with the same whisper, "I've got a plan, still up to chewing through these ropes? Also we need to tell your folks that I know, it'll make things easier."

Clark mulls over what she says and even with the damage, Chloe's knows she's seen that look before. Putting herself in Clark's mindset, he guesses at what he's thinking and whispers, "Two things with that. One, 'ow' and two, using your heat thingie in a room with Kryptonite mixed Nitrous isn't the smartest idea in the world. In your condition, there's a good chance you can't exactly control it to zap off our ropes and I don't know about you, but I don't want to see what a second explosion with that stuff will do to us. Cheated death too much this week to try our luck."

The concerned whispers between the remaining Kents attracted Chloe's attention and reminded them that they were on borrowed time. Clark nodded.

Martha regained consciousness and had to bite her lip from breaking down at the site of her son as well as that of her husband. Jonathan inched over to help console her. They pondered the mess they were in. They started to whisper a plan to help Clark and not reveal his secret to Chloe as well as escape. They look up to notice some sort of silent exchange between the two teens and then went back to finalizing their plan. They were so engrossed in the endeavor that they didn't notice Chloe make her way over to Clark and even if they had, they would've never seen what he did to free her since she blocked their view of that. They didn't notice her until she was setting the Kryptonite container near them, as far from Clark as possible.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Kent," Chloe said with an apologetic half-smile. Taking advantage of their stunned silence, she decided to break the good and bad news, "Listen, can you two just trust me for now? I got a plan to get us out of here and we really don't have time for Q&A."

Chloe saw the concern in their eyes and she implored as she removed their bonds, "I know. And I'm sure that statement makes you want to say a bunch of things but not exactly the best time, so just please just trust me?"

Stupefied but knowing the urgency of the matter, they nodded that they'd hear her out.

They gathered in a huddle, Chloe glanced over to Clark and whispered, "Clark? Can you hear me now?" With his nod, she stated, "Ok, here's the plan…"

* * *

Dante whistled as he unbolted the door that was serving as a convenient cell for his prisoners. Smiling, he thought to himself, _Some days, it's just soooo good to be me._ His thought proved to be a fallacy as he opened the door. Dante looked in to see Clark, and then felt something slide hard into his stomach and to the back of his head. The last thing he saw was Chloe lifting his chin to punch him in the face.

All the Kents were surprised by Chloe's strength, both physical and emotional as she lifted and turned the unconscious Dante over and using him as a shield as she rifled through his breast pocket. There was no time for words as Mr. Kent heaved the Kryptonite container out of the room with all his might. Clark's skin stopped pulsating to the radiation but other than that, his wounds should no signs of healing quickly. They all exchanged a worried glance and Chloe thought to herself, _Plan B._ She took the pistol she felt earlier from its holster out and said to the rest of the group, "Stick to the plan…MOVE!"

Using Dante as a shield, she moved out of the room first as Martha and Jonathan helped Clark out as well. Surprise was still on their side despite her statement, but just barely. The minions spotted the change of luck when the Kents were halfway to one of the cars. One of them made a beeline towards them. Martha dropped her half of Clark, leaving her husband to get their son to safety and grabbed a nearby wrench. She met the thug's aggression with equal force as she brought it up in a vicious uppercut to his chin. She saw the other mechanic start to draw a gun and threw the wrench in an attempt to disarm him before he could fully draw it out. Luck was not on her side with that move.

Chloe watched the scene unfold as she assessed the terrain. Glad to see that there were only two thugs to deal with and that Mrs. Kent managed to take down half of that equation. Chloe noticed the second thug was underneath an engine-block, she followed the chain holding it to its source and fired. The thug's head jerked at the sound of the shot then moved as he heard the sound of the chain snapping after 2 rapid shots. He barely managed to dodge out of the deadly machinery, but it bought enough time for the Kents to get into the car. Dragging along Dante as a shield, she fired off suppression shots towards the remaining minion as she made her way to join the Kents. She winced as one hit a gas drum and was glad that the standard movie reaction of it exploding didn't occur, it only leaked out the gas.

As soon as she had most of her body in the vehicle, she dropped Dante and said, "GO!"

Jonathan replied frantically, "There's no keys."

Chloe kept her eye on the thug as he waited for her to run out of ammo with her suppression fire, she reached over without so much as a look and pulled down the visor.

As the keys slid into his lab, Jonathan started to say, "How…"

"Thank James Cameron's T2."

Clark laughed so hard from the back seat that he ended up in a fit of coughing up blood. Jonathan gunned the car out of the garage. Chloe's gun started clicking as they cleared the garage and the thug saw his opportunity, and used it to step out from his cover. Clark was barely faster as he turned to look out the back window and used his heat vision to make him drop the gun. With an after thought, he started the ground near the gas on fire. The thug diverted his attention to putting it out before the gas neared it and caused an explosion.

It took seconds for all of them to react to the events that had unfolded in the past minute. Their statements all cluttering into one sentence, "Chloe…how did you…do you…that was…intense."

The still smoking gun, clattered to the floorboards and Chloe hid away her trembling hands by crossing her arms. Saying aloud, more to herself than to the rest of them, "Thank you Uncle Sam."

Jonathan was the first to react to her words, "You've never been in the army." The rest of the Kents looked at her, puzzled, awaiting her reply.

Truly smiling since this ordeal began, Chloe elaborated, "I meant my uncle, Sam Lane. He's a Major General, Lieutenant General or Colonel's Fried Chicken…something like that. He was very insistent on having everyone know how to protect themselves. Said I was a natural, who knew it would come in handy."

Clark looked at her and was in awe. _Wow. I shouldn't be surprised since Chloe surprising me has been the norm for the past few days, but wow._ Admiration and respect swelled within him as he gazed at her. _I never knew that this side of her existed. Then again, I never really looked much at her until recently._ His subconscious mulled over that last thought.

She turned towards the back seat and with the surge of adrenaline gone, her voice trembled as she inquired, "How you holding up Clark?"

"Like hell," he said and blushed when his mom gave him the evil eye, "er, bad but better. Not healing like normal." Jonathan glanced back at his wife and they shared a look of extreme concern.

Half forgetting the situation, Chloe replied offhandedly, "Probably the prolonged exposure to the Kryptonite…" Her voice trailed off as she noticed the look on Clark's face. They both looked to the floor, knowing they had a lot of explaining to do and other details to take care of.

Chapter 2

Luck was on their side, after delaying an explanation to Clark's parents while they made sure the situation with Dante was well within the hands of the authorities, Clark and Chloe were breathing a shared sigh of relief. It took hours for the police to investigate the scene at the barn and by the time they got around to questioning them in person, Clark's injuries had healed to such an extent that all that was showing was a hint of a bruise on his left eye.

As they finished telling the sheriff the "full" story, Jonathan and Martha escorted the officers to the door and left the teens alone in the family room. Clark looked at Chloe apprehensively and could see she shared the feeling. Chloe nodded towards the kitchen door. Clark raised his eyebrows and pondered the thought of prolonging the inevitable a bit more. Martha must have read their minds and with a mother's tone called back into the room, "Don't even think about it, you two. We'll be in there once we're sure they're gone."

They sighed in defeat and sat down on the couch. The sound of doors slamming and engines turning signaled the end of the few moments they had of not talking they had left. As the Kents strode back towards them, Chloe heard in her mind the tune of a funeral march. Hearing her sharp intake of breath, Clark was amused that of all that has happened today, the talk with his parents was what made her afraid. _Women_, he thought, _will I ever understand them._

Jonathan and Martha wore somber expressions and noticing Clark's demeanor, Martha using the mother voice, "Wipe that smile off your face, young man."

Jonathan softened the tone by adding, "This is serious, you two." Looking directly at Clark he continued, "I'm sure you already know that, but we both feel that we're entitled to a full explanation of what just happened."

Martha finished the parental speech by stating, "Chloe, what you did today for us was nothing short of amazing. I'd be lying if I said I was afraid when you said you knew…our family secret, but your actions today have proven to us that beyond a shadow of a doubt, you can bear that burden."

The teens let out a collective breath that they didn't know they were holding as the tension in the room thinned. Chloe took a moment to figure out her next words. Clark sensed her nervousness and held her hand supportively. As their fingers entwined, she broke the silence by saying, "It's a _long_ story and I'd advise sitting down for it."

The Kent parents sat and listened. At first they almost refused to believe the story Chloe wove but as Clark helped fill in parts as well as confirming the solid evidence that Chloe once possessed, they were left speechless when Chloe concluded her tale with, "…and it's a good thing Gabe was out of town for a seminar or he would've been kidnapped with you two."

Clark and Chloe awaited a response from the parents, trying to ignore their naked amazement. Clark broke the tense silence by saying sheepishly, "It takes some time to process. We could continue this tomorrow, besides it's getting late and there's school tomorrow."

Jonathan was the first to snap out of the reverie and asked Clark, "You're _sure_ that this...fissure is closed, son?"

"Like I said, I managed to close it with my heat vision," Clark responded, not mentioning the backlash that occurred at the end. _They have enough on their plate. I'll tell them later when it's all sunk in. Besides, no ill has come of it._ 'Yet', his subconscious nagged at him.

His mom interrupted his thoughts by asking Chloe, "How _did_ you know that would seal it?"

Chloe flushed as everyone's attention centered once more on her, "To quote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 'Elementary, my dear Watson.' Or at least it was to me. Maybe it was dumb luck or something to do with finally seeing a good part of the big picture, but it occurred to me that it would require a very powerful force to rip through dimensions, reality, however you want to look at it. Given what I knew before and now about Kryptonite…ha! I've finally got use to calling it that," she beamed proudly. Clark gave her a bemused smile as she continued, "Anyways, I figured Clark's eyes are the same energy that would be emitted by Kryptonite, both of them being from Krypton and all…so, maybe the heat from his eyes alone would seal it. It was a long shot in the dark, and who'd a thunk it would pay off, but it did."

Chloe was thankful that the silence from her explanation wasn't as long as all three Kents each said, "You're just full of surprises lately, aren't you?" within split-seconds of each other. All four laughed until there were tears in their eyes. Jonathan ended the discussion by saying, "Clark's right, it's getting late and you both have school tomorrow. Clark why don't you take Chloe to get her car, we'll continue this tomorrow."

Relieved, the two teens almost jumped off of the couch. Still holding hands, they scurried towards the nearest exit. As they watched them exit, Martha chuckled softly and said aloud, "Ah, to be young."

Her husband looked at her and smiled. With a gleam in his eyes, he too, took his wife by the hand and they rushed upstairs.

* * *

The trip back to the barn garage was silent. The two teenagers only parted holding hands to get in the truck. Chloe leaned her head against Clark's shoulder and they both enjoyed the quiet moment they were sharing. Chloe was half asleep when Clark pulled up next to her car. Turning off the engine, Clark tilted his head towards her and with their faces less than a foot apart, looked her in the eyes and said, "Chloe, wake up."

"There already?" she responded a bit groggy and a lot disappointed.

"Yeah," Clark echoed the same disappointment.

Chloe nuzzled into his arm a bit, bringing their faces slightly closer. Clark deeply into her eyes and Chloe was sure she was dreaming when he said, "You're amazing, you know that, right?"

"That's just the prolonged exposure to Kryptonite talking," she said defensively as she pondered whether she was awake or dreaming.

Clark chuckled, his breath flowing onto her lips and she knew she was awake. He continued, "Well, maybe if it was Red Kryptonite…" Chloe pulled her head back from his slightly and seeing her look of bewilderment, he said softly, "I'll explain tomorrow, but mom was right when she said you were nothing short of amazing today. You saved my life today. You were strong when I couldn't be, took risks where if I were human, I don't think I would've had the courage to take. You were a hero today, more than that, you were my hero today."

Her eyes getting wet, Chloe said, "Clark," only to be cut off with his finger pressed against her lips for a brief moment. Chloe prayed that she wasn't dreaming like she had been the past few nights. _God, let this be real._

"Shhh, let me finish," reading her eyes, he continued as he brought his lips closer to hers, "You kept me going through the pain. Thank you for saving me."

Chloe met him halfway and the last responsible thought they both had was that they wouldn't be getting home later than expected.

* * *

Chloe had a spring in her step as she thought back on the last few hours. She had cut the make-out session short as Clark rounded third. Not that she wouldn't have minded, but previous experience with Clark made her cut it short.

As she rolled her eyes at his confused expression, thinking to herself '_Men_', she asked, "As wonderful and fairy-tale-princess-like this is, I need to know right now, do you love me? Will you love me forever? Do you need me? Will you never leave me? Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life, will you…God, I must be tired to start quoting old rock ballads. Point being, I really want _you_ be sure that this is what you really want…"

She thought to herself, _You broke my heart once, Clark Kent and I'll be damned if I let you do it again._

"…Today has been," she paused and found an apt enough word, "intense. I think we should cool things down for now. Neither of us are going anywhere and it's technically tomorrow so I can't say 'there's always tomorrow' 'cause that really doesn't apply. Anywho, you get my point."

Clark began to mount a response when Chloe's finger intercepted him, "Shh, my turn to finish."

Seeing Clark submit to her wishes, Chloe stated, "I want you to know that no matter what you decide, I will always and forever treasure this night." Chloe's hand drifted towards the door handle, "Good night, sweet prince, thank you for letting me live the storybook, even if it was just one night." With these parting words, she leaned in for one last but short kiss as she opened the door. Clark prolonged it a bit longer by leaning as far towards the door as possible as she stepped out. She walked to her car and drove hope, not looking back. Knowing that that if she did, her will would break and she would turn the rest of herself back as well.

As Chloe pulled out and away into the horizon, Clark sat in the fogged up pickup and thought about what just occurred. _Mom and Dad are gonna kill me for being this late._ Smiling boyishly as he recounted in his mind, he thought, _Oh well, it's worth it. What am I thinking…Chloe's right, I definitely need to cool down._

Clark closed his eyes and tried a breathing exercise that Lex taught him a while back, all the while focusing on cooling himself down. When he opened his eyes, he could've sworn there was a thin layer of _frost_ on the window in front of him as well as the dash. _Did I? Naw, I couldn't have. Then again._ He took a deep breath and let it out again. When nothing happened, he thought to himself, _I must be tired if I think I'm Bobby Drake. I've seen that movie too many times, _and he started the engine. _Must be morning dew or leftover fog from…_ he snapped himself out of his reverie yet again._ I should get home._

As Chloe approached the door, her thoughts turned from reminiscence to the present. _I just made out with Clark! Strike that, I made with an alien. Actually strike that too, alien or no, he's still got the instincts of a boy. Well, at least I remember making out with him._ Her mind drifted briefly to recall the "Hug" episode she had watched, in what seemed to her, long ago. She got to the door and let out a girlish squeal of delight. While she was fumbling for her keys, the door opened and as Chloe looked at Lana, she thought to herself, _Mental note, I need to get more girl friends. I can't exactly tell Lana what happened even if I have to cut out the alien part. Can't gush to Pete, he'd either wig or not really get the girly stuff like Lana would. Arg._

Lana interrupted her stream of thoughts by saying, "Not to sound like a mother, but it's almost four in the morning and _what_ are you so giddy about?"

Lana's eyes pleaded with Chloe to tell her the truth. Chloe bit her lower lip and said, "It's been a long day and I'm really, _really_ tired. Can we have this talk tomorrow night? _Please?_"

Misery welling in her eyes, Lana nodded. Chloe was so caught up in her euphoria didn't notice the sadness in the nod, she ecstatically kissed her best friend on the cheek and said, "You're a sweetheart. Promise: tomorrow night, you and me."

As Chloe bounded up the stairs to her room, Lana pulled out her cell.

"Hello?" said a groggy but familiar voice.

"Yeah, hello, Pete? I know it's late, but can we talk?"

The tone woke Pete up more and he rubbed his eyes. He replied, "What's up?"

"If it's not too much to ask, I'd rather drive and chat. It was calming the first time…"

"Yeah, sure. I'll be by as soon as I can sneak out."

"Thanks," Lana said as she ended the call, a tear falling down her cheek.

* * *

_Things are not going good, not good at all. Ever since that Sullivan girl was put in the hospital for the second time that week, things have been one giant SNAFU after another, _Adam thought as he paced his new apartment in the Talon. _I thought I had it made when I secured the apartment. The boss isn't going to be happy with this, not like he's been happy with events lately._ Adam picked up one of the books on the table and threw it at a glass vase which shattered. Smiling at the needless destruction, Adam formulated a plan to get things back on track, which was good because at that precise moment the phone rang and the boss' mood remained quite foul.

"Adam," said the cool, seemingly calm voice of Lionel Luthor, "do remind me what our agreement was."

"In exchange for my 'medical expenses', I'd let you know anything strange about the Kent child."

Adam could hear the predatory smile over the phone, "I'm glad we're on the same page. For a second, I could've sworn you somehow construed that as _estranging_ dear Clark and spending time getting close to Ms. Lang. Then again, if I _had_ assigned you to that task, you'd still be failing."

"Sorry, sir," Adam said through clenched teeth.

"Good, good. I expect a much more _positive_ report the next time around."

The line went dead and Adam glowered. _Damn them. Especially that Sullivan girl for no longer bearing some of the burden of the boss' wrath. At least my place in all this isn't compromised, I know about her but not the other way around._

* * *

Lionel Luthor tented his fingers in contemplation as he sat at his desk, pondering what went wrong with his latest reconnaissance foray in Smallville. He'd lost his best source into his investigation into the mystery that is Clark Kent when he fired Chloe. His next closest agent in the matter had only succeeded in estranging the target. As for the others in his employ, it could be months maybe even years before he could hope to reap any benefits from them, if at all. As he glanced at a manila folder at the corner of his desk, he knew time was not a luxury he could afford. _If I had only known that Ms. Sullivan would've become so damn useful, I would've been less stringent about her faux paus. Alas, hindsight is 20/20 and there has to be some way to correct things._

Lionel spun around in his chair away from his desk and stood up to stare out his office window. The sight of Metropolis at night greeted him. His reflection in the glass gave the illusion that he was standing on air outside the building to admire the view. The globe of the Daily Planet and the lights within reminded him that he needed to look into the rumors that Perry White might've gotten a spine somehow in the past few months. Lionel sighed, _So much to do, so much to do, so little time._

Chapter 3

The next day was uneventful, a miracle that Clark and Chloe were thankful for. As the last bell rang, Pete ran up to the budding couple and said, "Hey you two."

"Hey Pete," Chloe and Clark said in unison. They blushed, not because of they were in sync but because they had dreaded meeting with Pete. They had decided, during one of their classes, that they had held off long enough on telling Pete how Chloe was now "in the know".

Before the silence could become awkward, Chloe gestured that the three should find some privacy and stated plainly, "Wow, today has been absolutely gorgeous."

Clark and Pete caught the hint. Clark added on, "Nice enough for a walk."

As the three amigos moved away from their fellow students, Pete added in a question for any potential eavesdroppers, "So, you guys excited about your field trip to Luthorcorp?"

Chloe groaned outwardly, "To tell the truth Pete, I'd rather not think about that for the couple days we have before we have to _actually_ go on it."

Clark gave grunt of agreement then Pete switched the topic, "Speaking of truth…"

Clark took up Pete's lead-in by heading towards some alleys and saying, "I think I could use a coffee. How about we head to the Talon? I think I figured out a short-cut."

Clark gave a quick x-ray and listen to the alleyway for any vagrants before saying, "So we owe you an explanation. Thanks for not pushing for one, it's been a…strange past couple of days. Where should we start?"

Chloe picked up on this and couldn't resist a quick facetious jibe, "The beginning is always a nice place to start."

Taking a moment to savor Clark's reaction, Chloe continued, "Which of course starts with me. So a couple days I was in the bank so that I could get the new Buffy DVD set." She stopped as Pete and Clark rolled their eyes simultaneously. "It's my story and I'm going to tell it my way. Now are you going to listen?"

"Sorry, Chloe," Pete said, "Please continue."

As Clark and Chloe wound down from their tale, Pete stopped dead in his tracks and just blinked at them.

"Pete, you ok?" Clark said with concern.

"Yeah, you haven't said a word since we started," Chloe added with equal concern.

Pete shook his head as if to clear it and said, "Yeah. I didn't want to interrupt. It just took a minute for it to process." Then he took a few seconds to look his two friends straight in the eye before continuing, "Ok. You two really aren't pulling my leg are you?"

"No, Pete, we're not," Chloe said.

"So, I'm a television star of sorts," Pete said with a smile creeping across his face.

"You're more than a star, Pete. You're a **Super**star," Chloe added glibly, which made Pete chuckle.

Clark and Chloe started to smile too until Pete started laughing hysterically, almost bordering on maniacal. Pete looked up at his friends and saw the concern returning, catching his breath, he added, "I'm fine. Really I am, guys. It's just that…you have no idea how ironic that is right now."

As Chloe and Clark exchanged a puzzled look, Pete said, "Don't worry about it, that's a completely different subject all together."

"Really, guys, I'm fine," Pete re-emphasized as he caught the two eyeballing him. "Seriously, I mean it. Quit giving me the hairy eyeball."

"Oh, look! Caffeine!" Chloe said with a wide smile as they neared the Talon. Pete silently thanked the Caffeine gods for the break from the looks his two friends were giving him.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Adam had spent most of the day doing research. Piecing together information from the briefing Lionel gave on the Kent boy, plus his own personal knowledge and some deft computer hacking skills, Adam's plan was finally beginning to come together.

It took most of the day but Adam had finally managed to get into Swann Institute. Getting in was tough enough but Adam now faced the daunting task of covering his intrusion each step of the way. As he coded the stealth programs he would need to suit his needs, Adam thought, _All my troubles began when that Sullivan girl got the killer emails. That's when everything became completely derailed. After that, she and Kent became nearly inseparable. Which wouldn't be so bad but this whole thing has somehow caused Lana to go to the Ross child instead of me. So if I can eliminate the Sullivan girl, maybe things will go my way. Of course, Clark may be with her when that happens and if he's somehow eliminated by accident, that'd be a bonus._

Adam's hands began to shake and he felt a trickle come from the corner of his eye. _Damn_, he thought, _forgot to check on the time._ Reaching over to his vial, he found a needle and applied his 'medicine'.

_Then again, the boss may not be too happy if the Farm Boy is eliminated but I'll figure a way to salvage that later. If I don't do something now, I'm dead…again. Ah, there we go, this'll set things into motion._

Adam set about his next task. He fed into the computer as many audio files of Lionel Luthor as he could find. _K, now all I have to do is let the program compile his voice phonemes and hope I have enough to construct the message. Now all I have to do is call in a few favors then wait for the show to begin. Guess we'll see how well this play goes and not mess up Luthor's endgame too much. _

* * *

_Back at the Talon_

"Hey Sarah," Chloe says to the girl working the counter, "Where's Lana?"

"She called in, said she need to do something. I'm in charge here for at least another hour," The brunette behind the counter replied with a smile.

"Ah," Chloe said with a look to Clark and Pete. Turning back to Sarah, she said, "the usual for me."

Sarah nodded.

Clark said, "Ice Mocha."

Pete looked over the menu, "Shot in the Dark. Actually, can you make that a double?"

"Sure can," Sarah replied, "be out with your order in a bit. I'm assuming you're putting this on you guys' tab."

The trio nodded they're consent and walked to a corner table.

Chloe looked at Pete and stated, "Two shots of espresso in black coffee. Not to pry but any reason you want to be jacked up like some hillbilly kid who just stumbled into daddy's meth lab?"

"Just didn't get much sleep is all," Pete replied with a yawn.

"Seems to be going around," Clark remarked then turned toward Chloe, "Hillbilly kid? Where do you come up with these things?"

Chloe shrugged, "What? Just wait and see, he'll be completely jacked up when he's done with his drink."

Clark just shook his head at her and let the matter drop. Glancing at Chloe's bag, he said, "Mind if I check my email on your laptop?"

Chloe pulled the machine out of her bag and handed it to him, "Have at it, big guy."

Before the two could start bickering, Pete said, "Well, there is one thing you guys might want to help me out on."

Clark multi-tasked and Chloe gave her attention to Pete.

"It's about Lana," Pete started. Clark's head perked up at the name, at which Chloe threw him a semi-dirty look. Luckily for all, the waitress interrupted what could have been the budding couple's first argument. Though Chloe's look had a "we'll talk about that later" feel to it.

After the drinks were served, things were settled down enough for Pete to continue. "Well," Pete continued, "the thing is that with the way you two have been acting the past couple days…"

Chloe twirled her fingers in a circle as if to say 'get on with it'.

Pete rolled his eyes and cut to the point, "Lana thinks you two have been going at it like two bunnies in heat."

Clark turned his head to avoid spraying his drink on Chloe's computer and Chloe barely kept from spraying her drink as well. Chloe giggled, "I'll give you points on style for that delivery."

Clark chuckled and Pete laughed loudly. "You're avoiding the subject," Pete said pointedly.

Clark turned slightly red and fidgeted before glancing at Chloe. Chloe sighed, "No Pete, we didn't…er, _haven't_ had sex yet."

"Yet?" Pete said as he smiled broadly, obviously enjoying how uncomfortable Clark was.

"You boys can have the locker room talk later," Chloe quipped and looked at Clark pointedly. It was clear that no exact details would be given, if any.

"Now you're the one avoiding the subject, Pete," Clark said.

_Clark to the rescue,_ Chloe thought with a mental smile.

"Huh?" Pete replied, "What you mean?"

"You implied there's a problem with Lana that you needed us to help out with," Clark said, not wanting to return to the previous point of discussion.

"Well, if you guys were having sex, then it would make things less complicated," Pete said, "but you aren't so what can I tell Lana has been going on with you these past few days. She may be completely oblivious at times but she's not brain dead. She knows something's up. Just not what. Telling her the truth seems a lot more complicated after what you two have told me. So what's the cover story?"

"We could just let her think she's right," Chloe said with a mischievous smile.

"Chloe," Clark said, "that would be cruel."

"Oh, and keeping the relationship you two had from me last year wasn't?" Chloe quipped back.

Pete shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to be a part of this particular spat. Clark winced at the reminder of how much he had hurt Chloe in the past.

"A girl is entitled to a bit of vengeance," Chloe stated with a bit of indignation, "Fortunately, I'm not a spiteful, mean girl. I only wanted to point out that I am entitled to letting Lana suffer a bit as an option."

The boy's let out a collective sigh of relief before tentatively venturing forth, "So, how are we going to handle this?"

"Good question," Chloe replied.

"I hate to say it," Clark said, "but Chloe's right."

"Of course I'm right, it is a good question. I don't know how we should handle this."

"No," Clark said, "I meant about letting Lana keep thinking what she's thinking."

Chloe and Pete's jaws collectively hit the floor.

Clark sighed, "Like Pete said, the truth isn't an option. And what better explanation can we provide that Lana would believe? She's reached her own conclusion, there can't be further harm in not confirming nor denying it, would there?"

"Cold, man, cold," was all that Pete could say in response to that.

Clark didn't respond, he just stared at the computer screen. "Um, guys," Clark said as he regained his composure, "we'll have to figure out that situation later."

Chloe and Pete leaned over to look at the screen as well. On it was an email from Dr. Swann. All it said was that Swann needed to see Clark and that he was to bring Ms. Sullivan as well. A plane would be waiting for them in the Smallville airfield tonight.

Chapter 4

"I don't get it," Clark said as Chloe drove them to the Smallville airfield, "Why the plane? Why _fly_ us to New York?"

"We've been over this a thousand times since you got that email," Chloe responded.

"Yeah, because it doesn't make any sense," Clark rebutted.

"Alright," Chloe said as she took a hand off the wheel to give Clark's hand a reassuring squeeze, "Let's go over it again."

She looked over to Clark, who gave his electrifying smile. Chloe repressed the urge to giggle. _Stay on task,_ she said to herself.

"The real question," Chloe said, "is not why the plane but why me?"

"I think," Clark began tentatively, "Dr. Swann may have somehow found out that you know."

"You know that's not right, Clark," Chloe said, "After all, if that were the case, I'd be with you on asking why the plane."

"True," Clark replied, "What I meant was, maybe whatever caused you to go into that other universe is causing some unknown affect on this one. Other than the obvious, that is. Swann is a scientist above all else, maybe he's detected something."

"Something no other scientist in this world has detected," Chloe scoffed.

"He did detect the message from my biological parents," Clark offered, "and besides that doesn't necessarily mean no other scientist in the world could've detected this hypothetical whatever, it would only mean that Swann is the only one that has information that could help narrow down the cause."

"Point taken," Chloe said with a smile.

"What?" Clark said.

"What do you mean, what?" Chloe said.

"I know that smile," Clark said with a look of mock seriousness.

Chloe laughed, "It's nothing. Just that I was thinking that maybe one of your biological relatives might've been a reporter 'cause you definitely have some reporters blood in you somewhere there, Clark Kent."

Clark laughed and shook his head, "Ok, so now that we've satisfied your question. How about we tackle mine?"

"Well," Chloe supposed, "if you're Johnny-on-the-spot with your theory, then that would mean that Swann doesn't know for sure that I'm in the know concerning your secret and in order for you to bring me along, a plane would maintain said secret."

"I still have a bad feeling about this," Clark grumbled.

"Ok, Han Solo," Chloe teased, "I just think you're trying to find a way to get out of flying."

"Hey," Clark said with a bit of hurt pride, "I'm not exactly fond of heights and you know that. And maybe you're right, if I had my way, I'd never _ever_ fly unless I needed to."

"Well," Chloe said as she eyed the increasingly darkening sky, "this is one of the times I can't blame you for worrying about taking to the skies. Though, if the legends of that other universe are true, you'll have to get use to the friendly and not-so-friendly skies."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Clark said, perplexed.

"Tell you later, we're here and should get on board," Chloe said with a mischievous smile.

* * *

"Ugh," Chloe said as she closed her textbook with disgust, "Mrs. Alice is an evil bastich."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to go on the field trip," Clark remarked as he peered over his book. Seeing the glare he received for his comment, he hastily added, "Though, giving a test on the day before a field trip to Luthorcorp is a bit sadistic."

"We've been at this for too long," Chloe said with a smile as she crossed the gap of their private jet and then pushed aside Clark's book. With a devious smile she said, "I think we could use a break."

"Oh," Clark said, perking up at this particular idea, "what do you have in mind to pass the time?"

"I don't know," Chloe said as she ran her hand through Clark's hair, "I'm sure we'll come up with something to pass the time."

"But we'll miss the beautiful mountains of Appalachia," Clark said in mock protest.

"We'll see them on the way back," Chloe said as their lips drew closer together, "for now, screw Appalachia."

Before they could complete their thoughts, the plane buckled slightly and Chloe could've sworn she saw some movement by their window a split second before. _This can't be good,_ she thought.

As to confirm her thoughts, the voice of Lionel Luthor came over the speakers, "Good evening, Mr. Kent and Ms. Sullivan. I trust you've both made yourselves comfortable. By now you should be crossing the wonderful Appalachian Mountains. Do try to enjoy the view, as it will be the last you'll see. Unless, of course, I am correct about you Mr. Kent, then I suspect that you'll find a way to extricate you and your lovely new girlfriend from this matter. As they say in _Mission: Impossible_, this message…and plane will self-destruct in a bit."

As these last words hung in the air, Clark x-rayed the plane to find the pilot gone and device counting down with 2 seconds left on the clock. He also found no parachutes left in the plane. Having no time to explain to Chloe what he discovered, he quickly grabbed her, ripped open the emergency door and threw himself and Chloe out.

"You pick a hell of a time to learn to fly," Chloe remarked as she held on to Clark for dear life.

"What do you mean?" Clark said, confused.

"I mean, how do you expect me to survive a 50,000+ foot drop from the sky. You'll be fine, bullets bounce off you, what's a little terminal velocity?" Chloe shouted back.

"Well, I'll just brace you for," Clark stuttered, "So you would've preferred exploding?"

"NO," Chloe responded, "I'd prefer for you to fly us out of here."

"Chloe, I can't fly."

"Well, you better learn quick. I'm not afraid of the falling, it's that sudden stop at the end that kills ya. It's not like you can brace me and cushion the fall. At the very least, I'll be in traction and Lionel Luthor will find out your secret for sure."

"I can't…"

"Yes, you can," Chloe interrupted, "Clark. Look, everything that other place has said about you has been true so far. Another thing they said you have the ability to do is FLY. You saw that you really were floating on that DVD. Everything we watched was like a frigging biography of our freshman year. You said yourself, you felt like you were controlling your path in the tornado and that you thought you flew to the caves. YOU CAN FLY."

"But how?"

"Um, concentrate?" Chloe said, truly stumped as well.

Clark closed his eyes and his face scrunched up in a visible sign of attempting to exert his will on a difficult situation.

A few sparse seconds later, Chloe muttered, "Not to put any more pressure on you but…ground. Kinda coming up quick-like."

"I'm trying!" Clark yelled and suddenly, the rush of air they had felt moments before ceased and the world seemed still.

Chloe ventured a look down and squealed, "You did it! I knew you could."

"What do you know?" Clark said in awe, "I can fly."

As Clark finished his sentence, he and Chloe smiled at each other.

"My hero," Chloe remarked as she brought her lips towards his, "You definitely deserve a reward."

As their lips met, they felt the sudden pull of gravity resume. Chloe screamed but a few moments later, they found themselves once again suspended in mid-air. "Sorry," Clark apologized sheepishly, "Guess I need to keep more concentration on this than I thought."

"You think?" Chloe said scandalously.

"I think I got the hang of it now," Clark said as he moved his head closer to hers.

"Nuh-uh loverboy, No reward for you until we're on terra firma," Chloe said decidedly.

* * *

It took a bit of practice but Clark finally managed to put them down in a remote location in one piece.

"About that reward," Clark said.

"Actually, will have to be later," Chloe said and seeing the disappointment in Clark's eyes, she added, "we have to find a way to explain our survival."

Clark sighed, "How? This isn't going to be easy."

Chloe's eyes widened, "Actually, it will be."

Clark gave her a look of utter bewilderment.

"You and I were just saved by a mysterious costumed man," Chloe said with a grin, "Now all we have to do is make your costume and figure out a way to make you un-recognizable in it."

"Easier said than done," Clark remarked.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for another cliffhanger but still have to figure out how to tie up a few loose ends. Hopefully the next update won't take a couple years. I haven't beta'd this copy so please let me know of any errors that I didn't catch. 


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